Hapoel Beer Sheva head into their first competitive test of the new European season priced as anything but favorites, at least in the eyes of Israeli bookmakers. Winner has set match-winner odds of 2.40 for a Beer Sheva victory, 2.30 for Víkingur Reykjavík and 3.15 for a draw in Tuesday's Champions League second qualifying round opener — numbers that treat the reigning Israeli champions as essentially even money against a club most of their fans had barely heard of a month ago.
The first leg kicks off Tuesday evening at Víkingsvöllur in Reykjavík, with the return fixture in Beer Sheva to follow next week. It is the opening assignment of a European campaign the champions hoped would start with more momentum behind them.
Ran Kozuch's side arrive off the back of a rough few weeks by their own recent standards. Having won the league title in May — Hapoel's first championship since 2018 — Beer Sheva then lost the State Cup final to Maccabi Tel Aviv, and opened the new season by losing the Super Cup to the same rivals, 3-1, at Turner Stadium on July 17. Kozuch himself has since signed a two-year contract extension, a vote of confidence from the club despite that pair of domestic reverses.
Víkingur, for their part, are Iceland's champions and were largely unknown on the continent before this summer, but they have already shown European teeth: they eliminated Hungary's Győr in the previous qualifying round, winning 3-2 on aggregate.
The near-identical prices for the two win markets tell their own story — Winner is not treating this as a routine step for the higher-ranked side, but as a genuine toss-up between two national champions.
Beyond the match result, Winner has also priced a head-to-head goal prop pitting Beer Sheva's Zambian winger Kings Kangwa against Víkingur's Gylfi Sigurðsson: Kangwa to outscore Sigurðsson pays 3.60, Sigurðsson to outscore Kangwa pays 3.30, and the pair finishing level — including on no goals at all — pays 1.50.
That pairing comes with its own subplot. Kangwa, who was central to Beer Sheva's title-winning campaign, has been chased by AEK Athens in a transfer reportedly worth several million euros, and no deal had been finalized as of kickoff, leaving open whether he even starts in Reykjavík.
Sigurðsson, by contrast, is the most recognizable name on the Icelandic side. The 36-year-old, who has played for Tottenham and Everton and represented Iceland at the 2018 World Cup, joined Víkingur from Valur last year and remains its most dangerous attacking presence.
A Beer Sheva win, or even a draw with an away goal, would hand the Israeli champions the advantage heading into next week's second leg back home. Lose in Reykjavík, and a European campaign that began with a coronation two months ago could already be in serious trouble.
