Saturday night October 31st, 18:00 will mark the first Ligat Winner League Derby of the 2015/16 season as Maccabi Tel Aviv will visit their arch rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium on Matchday Nine. The Reds underwent a major overhaul during the summer that has continued into the season with many changes, new faces and an old one as well.

Year Founded: 1923

Stadium: Bloomfield (15,000)

Head Coach: Walid Badir

At the beginning of the season Hapoel named Cesar Mendiondo as coach and former captain Walid Badir as an assistant. However, the Spaniard didn’t last long as the club’s boss and was let go after Matchday Two when he was unable to meet management’s expectations. Badir then took over as the interim coach of The Reds.

Players who left: Israel Zaguri, Lukas Sasha, Jurgen Colin, Matan Ohayon, Lior Levy, Apoula Edel, Shai Abutbul, Amido Balde, Avraham Chekol, Tom Almadon, Sean Malca

Players arrived: Ariel Harosh, Ram Strauss, Tzlil Hatuka, Claudiu Bumba, Edi Gutliv, Omri Altman, Mihai Pintilii, Shmuel Scheimann, Issoumaila Lingane, Omri Shekel, Eyad Abu Abaid, Guy Gomberg, Ofer Werta, Ben Grabli, Liviu Antal, Siraj Naser, Ben Reichert

Key Player: Claudiu Bumba

The 21-year old youngster Bumba, came to Hapoel Tel Aviv over the summer with another pair of Romanian footballers, Pintilii and Antal. The midfielder is considered to be an up and coming talent in his homeland and has already made his debut for his National Team. Bumba scored a brace in Hapoel’s victory over Bnei Yehuda.

How are they coming into the Derby?

The month of October has not been kind to Hapoel as Walid Badir’s side collected only one point out of three games. At the beginning of the month they drew against Hapoel Kfar Saba but then lost twice, 4:0 to Sakhnin and 3:1 to Hapoel Beer Sheva.