Showdown for top spot in Tel Aviv

Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC can claim top spot in UEFA Europa League Group C with a home win against Hamburger SV on Matchday 6, though both sides are already safely through to the round of 32 draw.

• Tel-Aviv trail Hamburg – who will hold the inaugural UEFA Europa League final at their home ground in May – by a point with both sides having confirmed qualification on Matchday 5.

Previous meetings
• Hamburg beat Tel-Aviv 4-2 on Matchday 2 in a game which represented the home side's first match against Israeli opposition, and Hapoel's first competitive tie against a German club.

Match background
• Semi-finalists last season, Hamburg successfully made their way through three UEFA Cup group stages. Hapoel competed in two, progressing the first time in 2006/07 but missing the cut the following season.

• Tel-Aviv are unbeaten in four home games this season; two 1-1 draws and two victories, the wins both coming in the group stage.

• In the 16 games since they last drew an away fixture in Europe, Hamburg have won 13 and lost just three, to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Manchester City FC and, on Matchday 1, SK Rapid Wien.

Team facts
• Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia is the only player to have scored more than 100 goals in both of the top two divisions in German football. A striker for FC Bayern München, Werder Bremen and Hamburg, among others, he won two caps for Germany and took over from Martin Jol at HSV this summer following a season at Leverkusen.

• Hapoel coach Eli Gutman is nicknamed 'The German' because of his reputation as a disciplinarian. He made his name by winning the 1996/97 State Cup with Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC and then the Israeli title with Hapoel Haifa FC in 1998/99.

• Founded in the 1920s, Tel-Aviv's links to the Histadrut trade union and the hammer and sickle on their badge earned them a reputation as a club with left-wing leanings.

• Hamburg have the unique distinction of having played at the top level in German football continuously since the end of the first world war. They have never been relegated.

• Tel-Aviv's Serbian midfielder Nemanja Vučićević has experience of German football, having represented TSV 1860 München (2004-07) and 1. FC Köln (2007-09) prior to moving to Israel this summer.

• Tel-Aviv are two goals shy of their 100th in UEFA club competition, with this their 72nd European fixture.