 Their most recent appearance in the final was the previous year's edition, in which they lost 2–1 to Hapoel Tel Aviv, and their most recent victory in the tournament was in 1998, beating Hapoel Jerusalem 2–0.Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa had played each other in four previous finals of the tournament.Maccabi Tel Aviv won in 2002 and 1987, and Maccabi Haifa won in 1962 and 1993.