The Israeli League (BSL) has announced that the Winner Cup, the traditional season-opening tournament, will be played this year since September 25 til October 4, date of the Final. 10 out of the 12 teams that will later competeb in the Israeli national championship will take part in the event, all but Hapoel Tel Aviv and Nes Ziona, as they will face the first rounds of the European tournaments in those dates.

For the first time in the history of the tournament there will be an Eighth Finals stage in which the newly promoted Hapoel Be'er Sheva / Bnei Shimon will compete with three of the teams who did not qualify for the playoffs last year: Ironi Nahariya, Bnei and Maccabi Rishon LeZion, with the winners moving to the Quarter Finals

First round. Games in Nahariya and Herzliya:
Game # 1, Tuesday, 25.9, 19:45: Ironi Nahariya - Hapoel Be'er Sheva / Bnei Shimon
Game # 2, Wednesday, 26.9, 19:45: Bnei Herzliya - Maccabi Rishon Lezion

Quarterfinals: site to be decided:
Game # 3, Thursday 27.9, 17:30: Maccabi Ashdod - Hapoel Gilboa / Galil
Game # 4, Thursday 27.9, 20:00: Hapoel Holon - Winner of game #1
Game # 5, Saturday 29.9, 20:30: Hapoel Jerusalem - Hapoel Eilat
Game # 6, Monday, 1.10, 20:00: Maccabi Tel Aviv - winner of game #2

Semifinals: 2/10 Tuesday, site to be decided:
Tuesday, 2.10, 17:30: winner game #3 - winner game #4
Tuesday, 2.10, 20:00: winner game #5 - winner game #6

Final Winner Cup: arena to be decided:
Thursday, 4.10, 20:30: Winners of the semifinals

To find out more on the Israeli League, please click here. The Winner League is also on Twitter at @WinnerLeague