For the first time, two players who have worn the Israel national team shirt will line up against each other in English football this month, after Monday's Carabao Cup second-round draw paired Southampton with West Ham United — sending goalkeeper Daniel Peretz into direct opposition with new Hammers winger Manor Solomon.
The tie is scheduled for the week beginning August 24, with the exact date and kick-off time still to be confirmed once the broadcast schedule is finalised. Both clubs are playing Championship football this season, which is what has brought Peretz and Solomon into the same competitive orbit for the first time.
Peretz completed a permanent move to Southampton from Bayern Munich this summer on a four-year contract, in a deal reported at around €7 million (£6.05m), after impressing during a loan spell at St Mary's that included a stunning FA Cup quarter-final upset of Arsenal. The Tel Aviv-born goalkeeper, who joined Bayern in 2023 as the club's first Israeli player, has become one of the more recognisable Israeli exports in England.
Solomon's arrival at West Ham was only confirmed this weekend, with the winger joining from Tottenham Hotspur in a deal reported at £7m — £5m up front plus up to £2m in add-ons — on a contract running to 2029, with the option of a further year. It is the third English club of his career, following spells at Fulham and Spurs since leaving Shakhtar Donetsk.
West Ham reached the League Cup second round by beating Portsmouth 3-1, with Tati Castellanos scoring twice either side of a Jarrod Bowen goal, ONE reports. That result, and Monday's draw, means Solomon could make his first appearance for the Hammers directly against a fellow Israel international.
A third name adds further intrigue to the Championship this season. Bristol City signed centre-back Lisav Eissat from Maccabi Haifa on a four-year deal this summer, in a transfer reported at around €2.5m. Eissat, 21, came through Maccabi Haifa's academy and represented Israel at youth level, but he now plays his senior international football for Romania, for whom he has four caps.
Beyond the League Cup tie, ONE reports that Southampton and West Ham are also due to meet twice in the Championship itself, on October 24 and December 19, while Bristol City's fixtures against both clubs are scheduled across September, December, January and February — dates that were not independently verified beyond ONE's reporting.
Taken together, it means three players with direct ties to Israeli football — one current Israel international goalkeeper, one current Israel international winger, and one Maccabi Haifa academy product now capped by Romania — will crisscross England's second tier repeatedly over the coming season, a coincidence of relegation and transfer business that Israeli football fans are unlikely to have seen before.
The League Cup meeting will be the first and most direct test: Peretz between the posts for Southampton, Solomon potentially available in a new West Ham shirt, and an occasion that ONE frames as the first competitive fixture in English football history to pit two Israel national team representatives directly against one another.
