The Royal Road: Hapoel Be'er Sheva Defeated Víkingur and Secured a European Season

Hapoel Be'er Sheva knew that the second qualifying round of the Champions League would be critical, as they only needed to pass one stage in one of the qualifying competitions to ensure their return to a European league stage for the first time since the 2022/23 season. Last week, they lost 2:1 to Víkingur in Iceland, and subsequently announced that the return leg in Hungary would be Kings Kangwa's last in the team's uniform following his sale to Panathinaikos, making Wednesday's match a battle for everything.

To the joy of the Israeli champion, all's well that ends well. In the return leg against the Icelandic champion, they completed the comeback with a 0:2 victory in front of about 300 fans at their new home in Szombathely. They advanced to the third qualifying round of the Champions League, where they will face the Serbian champion Red Star Belgrade starting next week, and above all, secured at least their participation in the Conference League league stage, along with a nice financial profit.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva struggled in the first half and allowed Víkingur to control the pace and even reach several dangerous situations, but after the break, they came out with a different approach and increased the pressure. In the 64th minute, they were very close to a lead goal when Javon East missed a great one-on-one opportunity, but a minute later Guy Mizrahi delivered an accurate cross and Zahi Ahmed headed the precious 0:1 into the net.

Kings Kangwa was close to scoring twice in his farewell match, but settled for an assist to Amir Ganah, who, just five minutes after coming off the bench, made it 0:2 in the 80th minute. The drama reached its peak in stoppage time when a penalty was awarded to Víkingur, but it was canceled after a VAR check following a foul on Ofir Marciano, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva celebrated a victory that guarantees them a warm winter in Europe.