“I don’t think I would change a thing” – Yarden Shua, Captain of Beitar Jerusalem

And so the 2025/26 Israel football campaign came to an end as Beitar Jerualem played to a goalless draw with Hapoel Petach Tikva and Hapoel Beer Sheva defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-2 to take the league championship.

The southern reds were the better team this season and came away with the results in the critical matches that they needed to. No one will argue that.

Ran Kozuk’s team took 8 out of a possible 12 points in four games against Beitar Jerusalem, winning once at both their home, Turner Stadium as well as at Teddy in the capital city during the regular season and drew twice in the Championship playoffs. Each time the yellow-and-black leapfrogged them and moved into first place, Beer Sheva knew what to do in order to not break and get the desired result to put them back in the driver’s seat.

There are plenty of other games that a finger can be pointed at where Beitar needed to do better, whether it was a pair of draws against a now relegated Ashdod, a home draw with Hapoel Haifa or a devastating 3-0 defeat at Maccabi Haifa less than two weeks ago.

But the truth of the matter is that if you want to be the champs you’ve got to beat the champs and Beitar mustered a total of two points against Beer Sheva this season, which for all intents and purposes says it all.

They did this a number of times both in the regular season and the during the ten match championship playoffs which were like a sprint after a ceasefire had been declared in the Iran war, a conflict that is just about ready to be renewed in days if not hours. The contests came fast and furious for both clubs at the end as they played every 3-4 days for a little over a month.

It was as they say, “Survival of the Fittest” and Hapoel Beer Sheva was the fittest from top to bottom. Kozuk’s crew had the depth and the expeinece of having been in a championship battle just last season. They also had arguably the league’s Most Valuable Player in Kings Kangwa who always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to help his team to make the decisive play game after game.

Of course, that’s not to put down what Barak Itzhaki and his stars, Yarden Shua and Omer Atzily had done this season to take Beitar to the top of the league and be a part of a championship race, a battle for the title in what seemed like absolutely forever.

Itzhaki needs to be commended as well as the Sports Director Almog Cohen who did a marvelous job in turning Beitar into a serious football club and one that could return to the top level of the Israeli league. The dynamic duo did a wonderful job in building a competitive squad, with solid foreigners and made in season adjustments that were moves that for sure were not taken for granted by the team and the fans themselves.

Luka Gadrani, Boris Enow, Gonzalez and Nana Antwi were all brought in over the course of the campaign with the former arriving at the end of September to shore up the back line while the latter two helped both on the offensive and defensive side as the trio should all be back in yellow-and-black next season.

But at the end of the day, Beer Sheva just had a bit more quality that was able to get them across the finish line first. Whether it was forward Javon East who the southern reds have the privilege of brining off of the bench to change up the game play or to start when the load was just too much for The likes of Igor Zlatanovic to carry due to the amount of minutes were being played since the war came to a halt in early April. Not every team has that luxury, or the opportunity to bring players like Ofir Davidzada, Roi Levy, keeper Ofir Marciano and many others off of the bench in times of need to fill out the XI that needed to be on the pitch.

Beitar did have the likes of Roie Elimelech available to replace an injured Antwi which was huge in a championship battle, but the bench as a whole, well, had plenty of holes to try to fill. Dor Hugi had some big games with one coming in Petach Tikva to steal away the win from the jaws of defeat earlier in the season, but it was clear that when Adi Yona went out injured, Beitar lost a piece to the puzzle.

It’s unclear how many changes both Beer Sheva and Beitar will make but both coaches will probably see a salary bump to continue the upward trend at the two clubs, while Kangwa is probably going to leave and Shua, if an offer interesting enough would come his way from abroad also may see the star leave the fold.

Dan Bitton who was such an instrumental piece of the Beer Sheva pie before his heart issue should be back but one never knows when you are dealing with such areas of the body. Beitar will probably see veteran midfielder Dor Micha head out while Grigori Morozov, Ailson Tavares, Hugi, either Gil Cohen or Ori Dahan and Gonzalez will also be looking for new teams. Things can change but this is the best bet right now as to what will happen which means Beitar will also need to bring in a pair of new imports as well.

As much as the two teams will be close to the same as the prior season, changes will need to be made, for Beer Sheva to retain the championship and Beitar in order to take another run at the top spot with the personnel that can be able to challenge for the title.

But it won’t be a just a two horse race as Hapoel Tel Aviv made tremendous steps this season after having been promoted from the Leumit League while both Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa can’t be counted on having disappointing seasons as they had this year. So, in essence there may be five teams in the title hunt and in contention for the 2026/27 championship.

The Israel Football League is getting stronger and with that, interest will continue to rise as attendance this past season has reached unprecedented levels with stadiums across the country packed week in and week out. The product is terrific and that will continue to draw more and more fans. Of course, when you have a title race, that also helps fill the stadiums and there should be no reason why they won’t be packed yet again.

The drama, thrills and excitement will keep bringing fans back for more and that is from the top of the table all the way to the cellar dwellers and relegation battles that were also incredible this season.

For Itzhaki and Beitar, the building for next year has already began. The second after the championship was out of reach, the page has been turned, the Toto Cup title has been tucked away and an exciting spring and summer is now ahead as they will make the necessary additions to the squad while also playing in European qualifiers either for the Europa League or Conference League depending on who wins the Israel State Cup, Hapoel Beer Sheva or Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Although there is still one league match left, at home against Hapoel Tel Aviv, it will give Itzhaki the opportunity to see some players who he is unsure will be the plans for next season.

While Itzhaki said he couldn’t put a finger on what he would have done differently this season, he did say clearly that he believes that one always needs to improve. Even if this season was a great one and even if they had finished with a title, he would still say that Beitar needs to improve.

Itzhaki was straight and to the point that If one doesn’t constantly look for ways to improve over such a long period, then one can’t grow and following every training session and every match he made sure to challenge himself. Luckily for Itzhaki he has a sporting director in Almog Cohen who challenges him every day and whom he can challenge back, so together it’s a great combination that’s good for the head coach and good for Cohen but also good for the entire system.

On one had, Beitar is proud, just as Beer Sheva was last season when they finished in second place. But now, the yellow-and-black will need to challenge themselves just as the southern reds did in order to take that next step towards the championship.

It was a fun season that provided such a wide range of emotions, highs and lows and everything in between. But now Beer Sheva still has one more step to take and that is to win the double by defeating Maccabi Tel Aviv on Tuesday at the Israel State Cup final before heading off to a well-deserved vacation because unbelievably training camp opens up in just one month.