Hapoel Tel Aviv can complete a return to European group-stage football for the first time in more than a decade on Wednesday, when they travel to Katowice to defend a 2-0 lead from the first leg of their Conference League third qualifying round tie.
The stakes are high: whichever club goes through will face Serie A side Atalanta in the play-off round, one final hurdle from a place in the 2026/27 Conference League league phase. Kick-off in Katowice is set for 18:00 CEST, 19:00 Israel time.
Hapoel took the advantage in the first leg with a 2-0 win at DVTK Stadion in Miskolc, Hungary — the venue used for their home fixture — through goals from Stav Turiel and Roei Alkukin. Katowice, one of the stronger sides in Poland's second tier, have a habit of digging in at home and will need a big display to overturn the deficit.
Head coach Elyaniv Barda was in no mood to treat the tie as settled when he spoke to ONE ahead of the flight to Poland. "The last match is history for us, and we're thinking about the next one," he said, before adding the caution that has defined his approach all season: "Every game starts 0-0, and you can't know what's going to happen."
Barda said his squad had reviewed the first leg in detail and identified where they fell short. "We expect to improve on what we didn't do well enough," he said, indicating some tactical tweaks are likely for the second leg rather than a simple repeat of the first-leg gameplan.
Defender Doron Leidner, on loan at Hapoel from Olympiacos, echoed the coach's wariness. "We gave a hundred percent to get to this point, knowing we're up against a quality team," he told ONE, adding that both sides have now scouted each other closely and know where the other can be hurt.
The tie carries extra weight for a club that has spent years rebuilding after relegation to the second division earlier this decade. Barda has overseen that climb back to the top flight and now into continental competition, and a further step past Katowice would put Hapoel one round from Europe's revamped league phase for the first time in the club's modern history.
Should Hapoel hold on, the reward is a shot at Atalanta — one of the form sides in Italian football in recent seasons — in the play-off round next week, with a league-phase place and its accompanying prize money and prestige on the line.
