Sunday’s derby will the 160th Tel Aviv derby played in the league of which Maccabi won 56, Hapoel won 46 and 57 matches were drawn. The goal tally in the Tel Aviv derbies is 191-151 in Maccabi’s favour.
Maccabi has a 10 victory gap over Hapoel (56-46) which equals the highest all-time record set between January 1994 and November 1995.
Maccabi has an unbeaten run in derbies which stretches for 14 matches.
The highest victory in derbies (5-0) was set twice in the 1969/70 and 2016/17 seasons.
368 players wore Maccabi’s Yellow and Blue colours over the years.
Miko Bello, who is Maccabi’s all-time appearance record holder with 599 matches for Maccabi is also the appearance record holder in derbies with 33. Of the current squad, Sheran Yeini played in 26 derbies and is 5th in the all-time list of players who wore the Yellow and Blue strip in derbies.
Shiye Glazer is the leading goal-scorer in derbies with 11 goals, Avi Nimni is ranked second with 8 goals, while Eli Driks and Eran Zahavi scored 7 goals for Maccabi.
The fastest ever goal in a Tel Aviv derby was scored after 50 seconds by Yitzhak Nachmias in the 1956/57 season.
Erez Mesika scored from the longest distance in derbies finding the back of the net from 45 meters in the 2007/08 season.
Of the 9 goals Maccabi scored in a Tel Aviv derby inside injury time (90+), Eylon Almog scored the latest one in the 95th minute of the 2019/20 season.
2,371,000 fans attended Tel Aviv derbies during 154 matches played in the league averaging 15,400 spectators per game. This figure doesn’t include four Tel Aviv derbies that were played behind closed doors, and the 2014/15 derby which was abandoned.
Such attendance figures turn the Tel Aviv derby to the highly attended league encounter.
The first official Tel Aviv derby was played 90 years ago next month as Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv ended the match on December 19th 1931 in a 1-1 draw.
