The new Israel soccer season is upon us as 14 teams from across the country will battle it out for supremacy and will look to knock the defending champions Hapoel Beer Sheva off of their thrown.

Hapoel Beer Sheva are the defending champions and have one of the best squads in the country, if not the best, along with the top coach in the land, but that doesn’t mean that the league title is already in their pockets for this coming year. That is far, far from being the case.

Beer Sheva is in the midst of Champions League qualification and find themselves just inches away from the league phase of the competition after having won last season’s Israel league championship. The southern reds will be playing in Europe regardless and that means eight more matches with a minimum of 16 flights which will make the domestic league season that much more difficult for them. Other teams that won’t be playing continentally see this is as a brilliant opportunity to knock the king off of the thrown especially after the club sold their “king”, Kings Kangwa who was without question not only their best player, but the best player in the league.

However, Ron Kozuk’s team has plenty of quality players with more yet to come, but for right now Eliel Peretz, Igor Zlatanovic, Zahi Ahmed and Javon East will provide the offensive punch while Lucas Ventura, Pedro Amador and perhaps most importantly captain Miguel Vitor will shore up the defensive game. There is no question that Beer Sheva will be a threat to repeat.

Beitar Jerusalem will be a serious contender for the championship this coming campaign under the club’s new Head Coach Almog Cohen who steps down from upstairs and his sports director role to take over from Barak Itzhaki. After the yellow-and-black came oh so close last season and with Hapoel Beer Sheva playing in Europe, the Beitar faithful feel that this just might be the season that they see their side back on top after going almost twenty years without a league title.

New recruits in veteran Israeli striker Shon Weissman along with Tomer Yosefi who played in Ukraine last season will look to make their mark on the club along with a pair of young guns in Daniel Worko and Noam Muche. Plus who can forget about the strike force of Omer Atzily, Yarden Shua and Johnsbosco Kalu together with a rock solid defense with Luka Gadrani and Brayan Carabali leading the way. Beitar has it all as Cohen will need to make sure that Beitar can meet the expectations of the fans who are thirsting for success.

Hapoel Tel Aviv will be a threat at the top of the table as Head Coach Elyaniv Barda has put together a terrific squad that has scoring, defense, muscle and plenty of depth. It’s hard to imagine that under two years ago, the Reds were languishing in the Leumit League, Israel’s second division with very little hope to succeed. But in came the Safra family led by Moise and Edmund and together with the management team they were able to put together a team that can compete with the best of best both domestically and abroad.

Stav Turiel is the star of stars, Roie Alkukin, Doron Leidner and Daniel Dappa all are extremely capable Israelis. Foreigners including Mayembo, Chico, Falcao, Coco and Emmanuel Boateng along with Douglas Owusu are all game changers and are primed to lead the club to the top after going deep into European qualification this summer. Hapoel is set to have an incredible season and they are going to be super exciting to watch.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is a team that is in flux. While they are competing for a place in the UEFA Conference League, Head Coach Kenny Miller’s side has seen some movement with even more expected to come. It has been widely reported that striker Sayed Abu Farhi will be heading to the Colorado Rapids in the MLS and that left back Roy Revivo is looking to make a move to Europe.

While the team has brought is Slovenian marksman Ester Sokler there is going to be an influx of foreigners once others can be sold or loaned out. New Sports Director Steven Vanharen, who joined the club during the summer has been busy and will remain that way for the foreseeable future as he continues to retool the roster of players.

Maccabi Haifa and Head Coach Lior Refaelov have been busy overhauling the Greens squad as they have been playing musical chairs with their roster over the course of the past few months in order to give the bench boss the best chance to win. However, there are also injuries that have piled up by the Carmel which has made things even more difficult.

Veterans including Manuel Benson is out indefinitely and youngsters such as Yinon Feingezicht are also on the shelf for an extended period of time making a tough situation even that more difficult. Kenji Gorre who is back from the World Cup along with Cedric Don will be key players for Bachar while newcomers Tsunami and Bruninho will also be counted on to provide the club with leadership and top notch play.

Maccabi Netanya will have veteran tactician Roni Levy on the sidelines and are expected to challenege for a championship playoff spot this season. The club has some serious depth along with one of the best foreigners in Brazilian striker Matheus Davo as well as veteran Dolev Haziza who arrives from Maccabi Haifa. In addition to solid players such as Karem Jaber, Amit Cohen, Dor Hugi and Oz Bilu, the diamond city squad also features up and coming star Bassam Zarora along with 16-year old wunderkind Yarin Abuhatzira.

Hapoel Haifa had under Haim Silvas is still a work in progress as they need to add a number of more players both Israelis and foreigners. But to date they have performed admirably well in the preseason Toto Cup competition with veteran striker Alon Turgeman carrying the scoring load while youngster Yaad Gonen has been a revelation so far.

Hapoel Petach Tikva was last season’s surprise package under Head Coach Omer Perez who was able to guide the club to the Championship Playoffs just last season. Their star player Chipyoka Songa is supposedly moving abroad which would be a big loss for the club as they are actively pursuing new foreigners to fill out the club.

Kiryat Shemona continues being a nomadic club and will not play at home up north any time soon and will continue featuring at the Netenya Stadium. With that, Head Coach Shay Barda has been able to keep his charges battling it out with each opponent and causing plenty of problems for each team that they play.

Hapoel Jerusalem will look to move up on the table this season under Head Coach Lior Zada who helped the club avoid relegation last year. With newcomer Vitalie Damscan and youngster Israel Dappa the capital city reds should provide enough firepower to go along with rock solid goalkeeping with Nadav Zamir as their number one keeper to be a threat week in and week out.

Bnei Sakhnin and their bench boss Yosi Abukasis will once again try to put together a season that the club won’t have to struggle to stay up in the Premier League. Ghanian midfielder Mathew Cudjoe will be a key contributor this coming campaign as the Galilee based club will try and be competitive on a weekly basis.

Ironi Tiberias will be behind the 8-ball before the season even kicks off as the club will begin with at least a -6 points start which may be even double that by the time the campaign gets underway as the story around the club hasn’t ceased. During last season’s relegation playoffs campaign, players under the direction of the head coach Eliran Hodeida were a part of a plan where they took salt water through their veins prior to a critical match against Ashdod which was a WADA violation due to the amount that was injected.

Hapoel Ramat Gan is one of the newly promoted teams to the Premier League and will be playing their home games at the brand new compact Rechovot Stadium which is the perfect spot for the club. Head Coach Messay Dego has plenty of solid experience and was a one time bench boss of Maccabi Haifa back few seasons ago. David Asanka, Maxim Plakushenko and Srđan Mijailović are a number of players that should be followed over the course of the season.

Maccabi Petach Tikva is back in the top division and will look to make sure that this time their stay will be a lengthy one under Head Coach Ziv Arie who spent close to a decade at Hapoel Jerusalem. The goal that Petach Tikva is s simple one, to survive and not head back down to the second division.