This derby will be the 156th meeting between Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv. The record currently stands on 53 victories for Maccabi, 56 draws and 46 defeats. The goal-tally is 181-150 in Maccabi’s favor.
Despite the numerous encounters between the two sides, this forthcoming derby will be the first time since the 2013/14 season that the sides meet in the Playoffs.
Overall there were 9 derby matches in the playoff and the records are even with 2 victories for Maccabi, 2 wins for Hapoel and 5 matches which ended in a draw.
Should Maccabi extend their unbeaten run this season, they will stretch their record in derby matches to 11 successive matches without a defeat.
In 19 previous seasons there were 3 or 4 derby matches played. Only on three occasions Maccabi beat Hapoel three times in one season (1992/93, 2003/04 and 2012/13). Hapoel never recorded three derby victories in a season (None of the teams managed to beat its city rival 4 times in one season).
Since Maccabi’s 4-0 win over Hapoel in the championship winning season of 1991/92, Maccabi’s 3-0 victory over Hapoel on December 4th 2019 was the highest victory in 29 years recorded in an away match.
Saturday’s match will be the third time in history a derby is staged behind closed doors.
On the two previous occasions, Hapoel, hosted Maccabi at Bloomfield with no fans as a result of punishments: The Toto Cup group stage match in 1998/99 (2-1 Maccabi win), and the Playoff of the 2010/11 (0-0 draw).
Of the current squad, Sheran Yeini, has the highest number of appearances in Tel Aviv derbies with 23.
Maccabi’s all-time appearance record holder, Miko Belo, played in 33 Tel Aviv derbies, while Avi Nimni and Benny Tabbak both played in 29.
Twice in the past, the month of June staged two derbies. The penultimate league round of the 1975/76 season saw Hapoel beat Maccabi 2-1. Twenty years earlier, on the final round of the 1955/56 season Maccabi won 3-0 and secured the championship victory.
The two playoff derbies were scheduled to be played in June over two successive Saturdays. Only twice in the history, two derbies were played in a seven-day period – March 1966 (a defeat and a draw) and March 2014 (a victory and a draw).
