Kings Kangwa scores in Hapoel Beer Sheva victory but title bid comes up short

Hapoel Beer Sheva FC/Facebook

Kings Kangwa and Hapoel Beer Sheva ended their 2024-25 season on a bittersweet note Saturday. The Zambian playmaker added another goal to a career-best season as Hapoel crushed Hapoel Haifa 5-0 but the result was not enough in their bid for an Israeli Premier League title.

Kangwa arrived to finish a cross from Iuri Medeiros soon after halftime, putting Hapoel into a 3-0 lead as they pulled away at home in their season finale. However, Hapoel needed title rivals Maccabi Tel Aviv to fail to win and there was no good news filtering into the Toto Turner Stadium.

Maccabi also pounced on opponents Beitar Jerusalem early and often in their own 5-0 victory to retain the title by a two-point margin. After Maccabi and Hapoel played to a 1-1 draw at the beginning of May, Maccabi won all of their remaining three games while Hapoel could only manage a draw at Beitar to go along with two victories.

For Kangwa, this season has been by far the best of his career after arriving on a transfer from Red Star Belgrade. The 26-year-old ends his campaign with 15 goals and 9 assists in 41 appearances across all competitions for Hapoel.

Kangwa has been nominated for three awards in the Israeli Premier League including the Best Player of the Year and Foreign Player of the Year honors as well as a place in the league's Best XI.