Israeli soccer teams who are participating in UEFA qualifying for a number of competitions found out who their foes will be when they take to the pitch in July. Domestic league champions Hapoel Beer Sheva will take part in Champions League qualification and will face the winner of the tie between Víkingur Reykjavík of Iceland and ETO Győr of Hungary in first round action.

State Cup holders Maccabi Tel Aviv will play in the Europa League qualifiers and will take on the winner of Sheriff Tiraspol from Moldova and Aluminij from Slovenia in first round play.

Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv will feature in the Conference League and will play AEK Larnaca of Cyprus and PFC Ludogorets Razgrad respectively in their second round ties.

Hapoel Beer Sheva was seeded and will also host their matches in the city of Szombathely in Hungary due to the security situation in Israel with the first leg being played away on either July 21st or the 22nd while the home contest will be one week later on either July 28th or 29th.

If Beer Sheva advances out of this round, it will effectively guarantee participation in a European league stage. Even if the southern reds lose in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, they would drop into the Europa League playoff round and a further defeat there would still secure a place in the UEFA Conference League league stage.

Beer Sheva’s possible opponents in ETO Győr or Víkingur Reykjavík have interesting backgrounds with the Hungarian side having a bit more history with Israel. Gyor’s most recent sports director was Steven Vanharen who was just appointed to the same position at Maccabi Tel Aviv while the club’s captain Claudiu Bumba played for Hapoel Tel Aviv between 2015-17. They also played against the yellow-and-blue back in the 2013/14 Champions League qualifiers.

Founded in 1904, the club who have won five league titles, four domestic cups and a Super Cup, plays in green and white and hosts matches at ETO Park. Historically, it has been considered one of Hungary’s most prominent provincial clubs, enjoying decades near the top of the domestic game and several notable European campaigns. The club’s greatest European achievement came in the 1964/65 season when it reached the semifinals of the European Cup after defeating Chemie Leipzig, Lokomotiv Sofia, and DWS Amsterdam before being eliminated by Benfica led by Eusébio.

The club suffered a major setback in 2015 when it lost its top-flight license and were relegated to the third division which was followed by a lengthy rebuilding process as they returned to prominence in 2024. The team struggled early in the 2024/25 season, earning just one point from its first five matches, but recovered impressively to finish fourth and qualify for Europe. In the 2025/26 season, it completed its comeback by winning the Hungarian championship for the first time in 13 years.

In terms of squad quality, Győr appears significantly stronger than Víkingur and features the likes of midfielders Milán Vitális and Szabolcs Schön along with defenders Márk Csinger, Dániel Stefulj and Rajmund Tóth together with goalkeeper Sámuel Petrás.

As champions of the domestic league, Víkingur Reykjavík is one of Iceland’s oldest clubs, founded in 1908 in the Fossvogur neighborhood of Reykjavík and plays in red and black while hosting matches at the small Víkingsvöllur Stadium, which holds around 1,450 spectators. Over the years, the club has won eight league titles and five domestic cups while also being a multi-sport organization with departments in handball, tennis, table tennis, karate and skiing.

The most recognizable player in the squad is undoubtedly Gylfi Sigurðsson, the 36-year-old former Iceland international and Premier League star. Despite his age, he remains the club’s biggest name.