Success in Turkey amid chaotic finances saw Trebor Mahtal back on the job hun in the summer of 2057. Now at the ripe old age of 73, the remaining nations on Mahtal’s EuroTrip adventure were Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Gibraltar, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Northern Ireland and Poland – some of which he was more interested in than others.
At the start of the summer, there were very few interesting opportunities available. But an intriguing one did pop up with a relatively unfancied club that just missed out on its national title last season. And Mahtal was technically leaving the European mainland to head to Israel, signing a two-year deal on £5k a week.
Who Are Hapoel Be’er Sheva?
Hapoel Be’er Sheva Football Club is a professional club in Be’er Sheva, a city located in the northeast of Israel around 60 miles south of Jerusalem. The club was formed in 1949, won its first title in 1975 and backed it up a year later. Financial struggles hit in the early 2010s, which saw Israeli businesswoman Alona Barkat purchase the club and focus on developing homegrown youngsters, which yielded three back-to-back titles between 2016 and 2018. It has a fierce competitive rivalry with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and historic rivalries with Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem, Maccani Netanya and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Be’er Sheva has fans across Israel, led by the UltraSouth fans group formed in 2014. The group aims to avoid political affiliation, runs the gate behind the south stand and has a songwriter dedicated to both the group and the players.
Be’er Sheva has added one more title during this save, winning the Israeli Premier League in 2030. It’s also won three Israeli State Cups in 2024, 2036 and 2046, taking it to six in total, plus seven Israeli Premier League Cups, taking it to 10. Last season, it was predicted to finish 4th but finished 2nd. However, they failed to win any of their final six matches, which handed the title to Maccabi Petach-Tikva, who Mahtal defeated in the ECL semi finals.
Be’er Sheva play at the 16,126-capacity Turner Stadium, which was built in 2015, and has solid infrastructure of 17 youth recruitment, 15 junior coaching and 10 training and youth facilities. It had £5.6m in the bank but only £350k transfer budget and £139k a week wages, of which £11k was spare. Mahtal’s ruthless business boosted that, selling 10 players for £1.7 million.
The best player at the club is left winger Moshe Golan, who’s racked up 348 league games for the club since coming through the academy in 2041. Other key players are promising 20-year-old midfielder Kfir Abergil, the African goal threat of Paulo Cardoso and Alain Mpondo, goalkeeper Ibrahima Fall, holding midfielder Gilad Kakon, right back Matan Aruas and centre backs Naftali Shenhav and Christopher Chinonso. They had plenty of potential in midfielder Avi Dadon, who Mahtal was going to make his starting number 10, centre back Arie Brik, left back Nimrod Brosh, winger Yoav Daniel, full back Shay Baruchian, winger Michael Ganon and centre back Roy Sharon. Mahtal added to that with Brazilian left back Márcio Andrade Manso for £525k from Fluminense then another promising African attacker in Mohamed Diarra for £250k from ASEC Mimosas in January. And he decided on a 4-2-3-1 approach.
Europa League Challenge
Mahtal’s time in Israel began in early July with the Europa League first qualifying round. They got a tough draw against Újpest and lost 2-1 at home, but a great performance in Hungary saw them win 3-1 with goals by Cardoso, Mpondo and Dadon. Next up was one of Mahtal’s old Czechian foes Bohemians, who were dismissed 3-0 at home through Mpondo’s brace before a rotated side only lost 1-0 away. Another old foe followed as they took on Valarenga and Manso’s late goal nicked a 2-1 home win before Shenhav scored the only goal and Fall made eight saves in Norway. Mahtal avoided several of his former clubs to draw Austria Wien in the Playoff, in which Abergil and Golan secured a surprise 2-0 win in Austria before a draw at home sent them, probably surprisingly, into the Europa League.
The league phase began at Mahtal’s former Welsh rivals Ponybont and they struggled to a 1-1 courtesy of Mpondo’s strike. Two more tough games followed as they lost 3-1 at a strong Celtic side then a deserved 1-1 at home to Tottenham. But a double by winger Itsik Sharabi earned a 2-0 win at Vojvodina before Dadon’s two penalties downed Marítimo 3-0 and Dadon scored the only goal at home to FK Rapid. That left them 10th with two games remaining, but they got battered 3-0 at Dinamo and drew 0-0 with Malmo to finish in a respectable 16th.
Mahtal reached 1,800 games in management with the playoff away leg at CSKA-Sofia, and it wasn’t one to remember with a 1-0 defeat. But his side bounced back in style to thrash the Bulgarians 5-1 led by an Abergil brace. Next up was a last-16 tie with Baník Ostrava, who won the league phase. And that’s where the run ended with a 1-0 home defeat and a rotated team lost 3-0 away.
Getting Started In Israel
Be’er Sheva remain 4th favourites to win the Israeli Premier League with title odds of 20/1. Petach-Tikva have won four of the last five titles and remain 5/4 favourites followed by Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Maccabi Haifa (13/5 and 10/3). But Mpondo and Cardoso are the two of the four favourites to be top scorer.
The league didn’t begin until late August but Be’er Sheva started well as Golan and Cardoso earned a comfortable 2-0 win over Beitar Jerusalem. They also won 2-1 at Hapoel Haifa before an Mpondo double earned a 3-1 victory over Ramat HaSharon, but a rotated side only drew 0-0 at Kiryat-Shmona. A big early test saw Be’er Sheva entertain holders Petach-Tikva. They started well as Cardoso crossed for Mpondo to slam home and the same duo combined to settle the game before Abergil’s late penalty.
Be’er Sheva built on that big win by extending their undefeated run to 10 games before injuries hit and they lost 1-0 at Maccabi Haifa. But they bounced back with a strong run of form, including Mpondo’s hat trick inspiring a 5-0 thrashing of bottom side Hapoel Ra’anana and Dadon to go into the new year with a 4-point advantage over Petach-Tikva.
2058 began with Mpondo and Fall at the Africa Nations, Dadon sidelined with an ankle injury and Cardoso broke his ribs to pick up his fourth injury in four months. Their teammates stepped up with two wins before an unlucky 3-2 loss at Petach-Tikva. Mpondo returned with a goal in an easy 3-0 win over Hapoel Nof HaGalil, another as they hammered 3rd-place Maccabi Haifa 4-0 and the only goal at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, which opened up a 7-point lead in late February. They maintained that form through to a 2-1 loss at home to Maccabi Tel-Aviv, which was ludicrously played two days after a European game.
Israeli Championship Group
That meant Be’er Sheva took a 4-point lead into the 10-game championship group, for which they lost Golan to a three-month hip injury, his seventh of the season! They also had Mpondo missing for the opening game, but Cardoso and Dadon stepped up to defeat Maccabi Tel-Aviv 2-0. Three days later, a crunch game saw them entertain title rivals Petach-Tikva, for which Mpondo was still out and the rest of the team was exhausted. Cardoso missed a huge chance early on but they never got going, conceding two poor goals to suffer a potentially huge defeat that reduced their lead to 1 point.
Mahtal laid into the team then went round every player to criticise their performance. Luckily, they had an 11-day international break to recover and get Mpondo back fit for another tough game at 4th-place Maccabi Haifa, which they drew 0-0 to fall 1 point behind Petach-Tikva (and Cardoso obviously got injured again). Bearing in mind what happened last season, as Be’er Sheva led into the championship group then fell apart, Mahtal was a little worried. But they got back to winning ways as Mpondo, Sharabi and Dadon inspired a 4-2 win over Hapoel Jerusalem, who somehow scored both their shots on target. Mpondo earned a 1-0 at Hapoel Haifa to set up an enthralling title race with Petach-Tikva, who’d won a ludicrous new league record 12 in a row.
Game 1 – Maccabi Tel-Aviv (6th, away): Mpondo’s fine form continued as he opened the scoring before Dadon’s penalty secured a 2-0 victory. Petach-Tikva won a 13th consecutive 2-1 at Hapoel Haifa.
Game 2 – Maccabi Petach-Tikva (1st, away): That teed up a potential title decider at the leaders, ahead of which Mpondo predictably picked up a knock, Diarra got injured and Kakon was injured and suspended. The hosts obviously scored their first shot… and their second… and their third, while Be’er Sheva missed better chances. They finally took one through Mpondo, Mahtal took Fall off and his replacement – shock horror – actually made a save. But they fell to a title-deciding 3-1 defeat.
Game 3 – Maccabi Haifa (3rd, home): Be’er Sheva bounced back in style as Cardoso and Mpondo braces downed Maccabi Haifa 4-0. The following day, Petach-Tikva finally failed to win as they drew 0-0 at Maccabi Tel-Aviv, closing the gap to 2 points with two to play.
Game 4 – Hapoel Jerusalem (4th, away): The top two were both away, with Be’er Sheva at the team in 4th and Petach-Tikva at the team in 3rd. Haifa did their job, defeating Petach-Tikva 2-1… but Be’er Sheva couldn’t score and drew 0-0 in Jerusalem.
Game 5 – Hapoel Haifa (6th, home): Oddly, the season concluded three days later on a Tuesday evening. But the penultimate day saw the top two split by just 1 point. Be’er Sheva entertained Hapoel Haifa while Petach-Tikva hosted Hapoel Jerusalem. Be’er Sheva racked up 11 shots in the first 40 minutes and finally made one count as Diarra headed home Cardoso’s floated cross. At half time, they were top of the table as the other game was 0-0 and the situation improved as Jerusalem took the lead on 54 minutes, only to concede 4 and 6 minutes later. And Petach-Tikva went on to win 3-1.
That meant Be’er Sheva finished 2nd with 85 points, which would have won the league in all the other 33 seasons in this save. they finished 1 point behind Petach-Tikva after 27 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 76, which was usurped by Petach-Tikva’s ridiculous 102, and conceding just 23.
Disappointment After Close Title Fight
Coming 2nd was pretty hard to take after such a strong campaign. Mpondo led the way with goals in 50 games followed by Dadon (16), Sharabi (12), Abergil and Golan (11) and Cardoso (10). Injury-plagued Golan led the assists with 15 followed by Manso (12), Abergil (11) and Dadon (9).
Mahtal didn’t want to rush into any decisions, but he wasn’t overly positive about staying in Israel. He was pretty furious with his team’s lack of bottle against Petach-Tikva, the club was losing money every month and there was very little value in Israeli football. But the board’s decision to give him a £0 transfer budget despite having £9m in the bank really infuriated him.
Would Mahtal stay in Israel or seek yet another new opportunity? We’re ramping up the conclusion to this save with daily blogs through to the end of FM24. So join us tomorrow to find out!
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