Israeli champions Hapoel Be'er Sheva have been drawn with Southampton and Italian giants Inter Milan in their Europa League group.

Hapoel dropped into Europe’s secondary club competition after narrowly failing to qualify for the Champions League group stage, losing to Scottish champions Celtic 5-4 over two legs.

The side from central Israel will also face Czech side Sparta Prague in Group K, after reaching the post-qualification stage of a European competition for the first time since the 1995/96 season.

On that occasion, Hapoel were knocked out in the first round by a Barcelona side including Portuguese legend Luís Figo, losing 7-0 at home and 5-0 away.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, who finished second last season, were drawn in Group D with 2008 Uefa Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and Irish champions Dundalk.

This was the Israeli team’s reward for successfully navigating four rounds of qualifying, culminating yesterday with a penalty shoot-out victory over Croatian side Hajduk Split.