After the summer break, Hapoel Tel Aviv arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria to officially begin preparations for the 2026/27 season. The team’s players arrived in the Bulgarian capital, underwent medical examinations, completed fitness tests with the staff and held their first practice of the season.

Those absent from practice were the team’s players representing the Israeli national team, as well as Tomer Ginat. The Israeli forward is still recovering from his knee injury and is receiving treatment in order to return to full fitness. At this stage, he is still not participating in team practices.

Those who arrived and took part in the first practice were Ish Wainright, Tai Odiase, Oz Blayzer, Bar Timor, Antonio Blakeney, Vasilije Micic, Elijah Bryant, Daniel Oturu, Amir Coffey, Zach LeDay, Jacob Toppin, Eugene German, Tomas Satoransky and Fred Bourdillon.

The team has a series of preseason games coming up: two against Balkan Botevgrad in Bulgaria on August 29 and 31, followed by games against Partizan Belgrade and FMP in Belgrade on September 5 and 6, respectively. To conclude the preseason, the team will travel to Sardinia, Italy, for a tournament that will also feature Virtus Roma, ASVEL and Bayern Munich, on September 12 and 13.

The team will return to Israel on September 14 with the full roster to begin preparations for the Super Cup game against Maccabi Tel Aviv on September 17. Hapoel will then open its European campaign with a game in Sofia against Bayern Munich on September 24.

Head coach Dimitris Itoudis said after the first practice, “I’m very excited to start another season. I’ll start by saying, ‘Yalla Hapoel.’ We’re starting the season, although we’re still not at full strength because of the players with the national team. I wish them success and we’re waiting for them. I’m excited to get to know the new players, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us, both tactically and in terms of the individual development of each player. We want the new players to know where they have arrived, what they represent and to understand the journey we have taken under the ownership to get here. I hope we stay healthy, remain united in the locker room, and breathe as one.”

On what he is looking for during the preseason, Itoudis said, “Based on the data I received from the medical examinations, most of the players who arrived are ready for the preseason. The preparation period is short, which means we need to start aggressively from the beginning. We’ll become more and more aggressive each day, but the important thing is that we arrive ready. Unfortunately, Tomer Ginat is out and is still recovering from his injury, but he is a central figure, he is a fighter and he will return as quickly as possible.”

Zach LeDay added, “It feels really good getting to know everyone. We’re taking it day by day. We have big goals ahead of us, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Personally, I feel great, and we all have the same shared goals. We’re chasing success, so we’re going to work every day to achieve our goals.”