Tel Aviv's Week on the Field: Maccabi's Cup Run, Beach Volleyball Glory and a Bloomfield Sellout

Maccabi Tel Aviv kept their State Cup campaign alive on Tuesday night, grinding out a 2-1 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva at Bloomfield Stadium before a crowd of 29,400 — the venue's first sellout since April. Striker Dor Peretz opened the scoring in the 34th minute before Beer Sheva levelled just before the break. A 78th-minute penalty, coolly dispatched by captain Eran Zahavi, sealed the win and sent the Bloomfield crowd into the kind of noise that rattles the concrete ramps on Yitzhak Rager Boulevard all the way to Jaffa port.

The result matters beyond the cup. Maccabi's league season ended in May with their eighth consecutive championship, and club officials have been open about using the cup run to road-test younger squad members ahead of the 2026-27 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds, which begin on July 24. Three academy graduates — all under 21 — logged serious minutes on Tuesday. That kind of competitive exposure is hard to manufacture in a pre-season friendly.

Sand, Sweat and a Surprise at Gordon Beach

Away from Bloomfield, the Tel Aviv Beach Volleyball Open wrapped up its three-day run on Thursday evening along the Gordon Beach promenade, with Israeli pair Matan Mashiach and Roi Lubin claiming the men's title in two tight sets, 21-19, 21-17, over a Dutch duo ranked 14th in the current FIVB world standings. The tournament, sanctioned by the Israel Volleyball Association and held on temporary courts erected between the Gordon swimming pool and the Hilton beach access path, drew an estimated 8,000 spectators across the weekend — up roughly 15 percent on last year's attendance figure. Entry was free; food stall operators on Herbert Samuel Esplanade reportedly sold out of cold drinks by 6 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, which tells you everything about the July heat and the size of the crowds.

The women's final was equally competitive. Chen Atias and Lihi Cohen, training partners based out of the Israel Sport Center for the Disabled and Maccabi Tel Aviv Volleyball Club respectively, pushed the eventual Brazilian winners to a third set before losing 15-12. Their run to the final is the best result by an Israeli women's pairing at a sanctioned FIVB beach event on home soil since 2019.

Hapoel and the Ramat Gan Question

While Maccabi grabbed the headlines at Bloomfield, cross-city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club confirmed Thursday that they will play their opening three home fixtures of the 2026-27 Premier League season at Ramat Gan Stadium rather than the renovated Bloomfield, which is scheduled for structural maintenance work on its north stand starting August 3. The Ramat Gan ground holds 41,583 and sits on Abba Hillel Silver Road in Ramat Gan — a 20-minute bus ride from the old Central Bus Station on Levinski Street. Hapoel's ticketing office said a season-ticket bundle covering those three games will be priced at 270 NIS, with individual match tickets available from July 14.

The basketball calendar is also turning. Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball, five-time EuroLeague champions, open their domestic Super League campaign on October 2, but the club confirmed this week that pre-season training at Menora Mivtachim Arena on Yitzhak Sadeh Street resumes July 28. New head coach Ainars Bagatskis, signed in June on a two-year deal, is expected to take his first practice session that morning. The club has added two American guards and a Croatian centre to the roster since the end of last season.

For fans planning their summer around local sport, the next fixed points are the Maccabi Tel Aviv Football cup quarter-final draw on July 9 — broadcast live on Sport1 — and the beach volleyball association's next ranked event at Tel Baruch Beach on July 19-20. Tickets for Hapoel's Ramat Gan fixtures go on general sale July 14 through the Leaan ticketing platform. Given Tuesday's Bloomfield sellout, moving early looks wise.