The Israeli Basketball Premier League has published its full fixture list for the 2026/27 season, and one date jumps straight off the page: the first Tel Aviv derby of the campaign, Maccabi Tel Aviv against Hapoel Tel Aviv, is scheduled for round four, ONE reports.
With the season opening across October 9-12, that puts Israeli basketball's oldest and fiercest rivalry in late October — barely a month into the new campaign, rather than the fixture computer holding it back deep into the winter as has happened in some past seasons.
This derby carries extra edge. Hapoel Tel Aviv has been playing its home games at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Yad Eliyahu since January 2025, sharing the building with Maccabi while the club's regular home, the Shlomo Group Arena, awaits an expansion. A derby fought under one shared roof only sharpens the occasion.
The wider schedule, which according to ONE runs from the opening round on October 9-12 through to May 2, 2027, also locks in the season's first 'Classico' — Maccabi Tel Aviv's trip to Hapoel Jerusalem — for mid-November.
That will be an early landmark for Hapoel Jerusalem too, coming among the first tests for new head coach Sasa Obradovic, the Serbian appointed on a contract running through 2029. Obradovic arrives with a heavyweight European résumé that includes steering AS Monaco to its first-ever EuroLeague Final Four in 2023.
Round one, per the published fixtures, is headlined by Hapoel Holon hosting Hapoel Jerusalem, while the same round marks Ironi Eilat's return to the top flight and Maccabi Ashdod's debut in the Premier League.
On kick-off times, ONE reports that league games will generally be spread across an 18:30-20:15 window, with each round's marquee fixture starting at 20:55. As in previous seasons, a limited number of Friday fixtures will be permitted, kicking off no later than three hours before the start of Shabbat.
For supporters of both Tel Aviv clubs, round four is now the first big date to circle on the new calendar — proof that, fixture list or not, this derby rarely waits long to make itself felt.
