Preview: Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs Sabah - prediction, team news, lineups

Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Sabah will lock horns in the Champions League playoff round, with the first leg of their contest taking place on Wednesday night in Bucharest, Romania.

Sabah overcame Aarhus in the last round of the competition, while Hapoel Be'er Sheva navigated their way past Red Star to move closer to qualifying for the league stage.

Match preview

Hapoel Be'er Sheva have played four matches in the 2026-27 Champions League, overcoming both Vikingur Reykjavik and Red Star to secure a spot in the playoff round.

The Israeli outfit lost 2-1 to Vikingur in the first leg of their second qualifying round clash, but a 2-0 victory in the return fixture allowed them to book their spot in the next round.

Ran Kojok's side, who beat Red Star 3-0 on aggregate in the last round, are now just two matches away from qualifying for the league stage, which would represent a first-ever appearance for the Camels at that level.

As a result, there is no downplaying the importance of this tie for Hapoel Be'er Sheva, who will be looking for a positive first-leg result ahead of the return fixture next week.

The Israeli outfit finished top of their domestic league last season, which proved to be their first Premier League success since 2017-18 and a sixth success overall in the division.

Sabah, meanwhile, have incredibly already played six matches in the 2026-27 Champions League, overcoming TNS, KuPS and Aarhus to secure a spot in the playoff round.

The Azerbaijani outfit actually lost 2-1 to Aarhus in the first leg of their third qualifying round clash, but a 4-0 success in the second leg handed them an incredible 6-1 aggregate victory.

The Owls have also never managed to secure a spot in the league stage of the Champions League, so history is on the line in this two-legged affair.

Valdas Dambrauskas' side opened their new Azerbaijani Premier League campaign with a 2-0 success over Kapaz on Saturday, and they have actually been victorious in six of their seven matches across all competitions at the start of the 2026-27 campaign.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Champions League form:

Hapoel Be'er Sheva form (all competitions):

Sabah Champions League form:

Sabah form (all competitions):

Team News

Zahi Ahmed has been in strong form for Hapoel Be'er Sheva this season, scoring twice in four appearances, and the 25-year-old will continue in the final third of the field.

There is also set to be a spot at centre-forward for Igor Zlatanovic.

However, Joao Victor and Dan Biton will both miss Wednesday's first leg through injury.

Sabah, meanwhile, will be without the services of Khayal Aliyev through injury, but the visitors are otherwise in strong shape for the contest.

Veljko Simic has been in excellent form this season, scoring five goals in six appearances, and the 31-year-old will once again operate down the left.

Meanwhile, there should be a spot in a wide area for Joy-Lance Mickels, who has four goals in all competitions at the start of the season.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva possible starting lineup:

Marciano; Mizrahi, Miguel Vitor, Rotman, Amador; Peretz, Lucas Ventura, Yehoshua; East, Zlatanovic, Ahmed

Sabah possible starting lineup:

Pokatilov; Zedadka, Solvet, Dashdamirov, Puchacz; Rakhmonaliyev, Lepinjica; Simic, Isayev, Mickels; Mbina

We say: Hapoel Be'er Sheva 1-1 Sabah

This is shaping up to be a very interesting match, and we are expecting it to be tight, with the spoils potentially being shared in the first leg of the playoff clash.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.