The real thing is about to begin. Maccabi Tel Aviv departed this morning (Wednesday) for Czech Republic where they will face Slavia Prague on Matchday 1 of the Europa League Group Stages Thursday night at 20:00 Israel time at the Eden Arena.

Check out the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv App and Website for all of the Yellow & Blue updates, video clips, interviews and more from the Czech Republic.

Hundreds of fans flew to Prague and they along with the players were able to pick up the Official Europa League Scarf at the James Richardson Duty Free Store at Ben Gurion Airport.

Central defender Tal Ben Haim spoke ahead of the flight about the continental challenge that lies ahead:
“This is our third year in a row that we are playing in European group stages and it’s very exciting. We are heading out to a difficult match but we are hoping to come back home with a good result. Winger Tal Ben Chaim will visit us at the hotel and I’m sure he will have a few more tips for us and we will be prepared. We understand that there will be a lot of fans flying to the contest and we hope that we will make them happy.”

This morning the players and professional staff arrived at the airport and later on today the prematch press conference and final training session will take place at the stadium.