Although the elections for the presidency of the Football Association will only take place on 27.12, there has never been such a thing: the contestants – the incumbent chairman, A sturdy pine, and Moshe Shino Zoertz. – Established special headquarters, together with communication consultants and experts in the field. Much has already been said about the hottest elections in the history of the football association and never has an incumbent chairman had to fight for his life as Hasson is doing.
Despite the great success of Israel’s national teams in the past year, there are those who do not side with Hassan, such as Yaakov Shahar, who supports Zoertz because of everything that is happening at the court and the lack of reform, but in a special interview with ONE, the chairman of the association is sure that he will win in the end, this despite the fact that Zoertz submitted the lists There was an overwhelming majority. Hasson says that it is not what is decisive, but what will be put on the ballot on the decisive day, according to him – Israeli football is in its best period in 40 years and therefore has support, he also does not hide his disappointment from Shahar and talks about the Omar affair with me, Eran Zahavi And the room, and the increasing violence.
Oren, how do you see the confrontation? After many years there is a head-to-head for the position of chairman of the football association when you arrive as incumbent chairman, you work for three years around the clock and now you have to fight for your life as chairman.
“This is the nature of elections, elections are usually contested for several years.”
It was not in the history of the association.
“Even if it wasn’t typical for the association, there were cases like this in the past. I think it’s a certificate of honor for the football association that people want to face and lead it.”
But you as an incumbent chairman, not someone who came from outside, in submitting your notes to run Shino Zoertz submitted the support of 875 votes out of 1,200 votes. This means that quite a few people from whom you expected more loyalty or more recognition for your work, did not do it.
“I don’t know how to respond to your question because I know in practice from my very intensive work in the field that I receive a great deal of support from the groups. What will determine is what will be on the ballot on December 27. The notes you are talking about are actually supporting a candidate who can appear before the eligibility committee to that he can serve as the chairman of the association. This has nothing to do with what will happen at the ballot box, because in the end, at the ballot box, you don’t vote for the chairman of the association, you vote for a list that will make up the management of the association. I am convinced that I will put together the list that will eventually be chosen and the management of the association will be headed by me.”
You say that despite the state of the votes so far. Are you sure you will win and be the chairman of the association?
“I know what’s happening on the ground, not what you say – the groups I talk to, I see that I have a lot of support.”
So why didn’t they support you in filing and support Shino Zoaretz?
“The lists that will determine the management of the association will be the lists that will ultimately decide on the ballot. Support for the eligibility committee has nothing to do with the elections.”
How disappointed are you that Yankel’ Shahar doesn’t support you?
“I’m very disappointed.”
what did you expect
“That he will support me.”
You met with him, what did he explain to you?
“What was discussed between Yankela and me, is between us. But I told him that I am very disappointed that after the very significant work and our success with the national team, that he does not support.”
Yankel’ is a symbol that is sometimes seen by teams, he is considered one of the seniors in Israeli football.
“His contribution to Israeli football is great, there are other senior officials who support me and I am convinced that I will win the elections. By the way, I receive quite a few inquiries from people who say that they have difficulty understanding how I do not have the support of everyone in light of what I have done and the achievements of the Israeli national team. They tell me that this is due to foreign considerations because I Does an excellent job.”
Apart from Hapoel BS which supports you, the big ones – Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem – are going with Shino Zoertz, which means more small groups with you, how is it going to be divided?
“In the end there are 1,350 votes. To win you need to have a majority, whether it’s big teams or national league teams, A, B or C. I’m convinced that I have an overwhelming majority following and I will also be the chairman of the association . Without having anything to do with belonging to one group or another, there are quite a few big teams also in the Premier League that I know support my list for sure.”
I know you were approached about rotation. Answer the person who asked ‘I am not ready to do a rotation even if I am three years, 364 days and 23 hours’.
“That’s not what I said, but I stand by the fact that I don’t think there should be a rotation at all. It’s completely ridiculous to talk about a rotation when in the last three years I’ve been leading the football association to achievements that, in my opinion, have never been here before, that this issue even came up for discussion out of personal considerations of people. My supporters and those who don’t support me unanimously say that football is in the best period in the last 30-40 years.”
How much good do you see in this thing?
“This is not a matter of coercion, it is a matter of choices. Whoever the teams ultimately want will lead them and take care of soccer in Israel and take care of all the needs of soccer, both professional soccer and amateur soccer, certainly the children’s and youth departments, and above all, the success of the Israeli national teams , I am convinced that he will choose me.”
A lot of teams don’t want to support you because of Stern Haluba who is identified with you, they say he is the strongest man in the association. You say he is not active, but his son calls the groups regarding the elections and asks: why are you not being voted for? Barak Abramov also told you to your face after you apologized that he would not vote for you because of that.
“In every list, I assume that there will be people who have found who they prefer not to be on the list. Whether it is on my list or Shino’s camp, they would prefer not to be on the list, and I assume that it is also in the opposite situation. To Adam’s body, because those who did not know him before I came to the football association, I I can tell you that there is unanimity with almost everyone I talk to, from the seniors to the lowest leagues about Stern Halova’s contribution to Israeli football. In closing, I will also tell you let’s wait for the lists to be submitted, I guess you are in for some surprises.”
Even if Stern Halova will not be on the list as they say, he will continue to be the strong man, it does not make a good impression. I saw here people outside of politics who manage everything here.
“And people who are on Shino’s list and don’t want to see them? It exists.”
Say names, we’ll register.
“That’s why I said, I’m sure that the list Shino will lead will have people who won’t like to see some of them. That’s fine, these are democratic elections, the majority decides in the end who will be the list that will lead Israeli football.”
In Atzili’s story, you did not go well, was the handling of the case wrong?
“I think that after examining and realizing that the case was closed due to lack of guilt, and we also saw the level of his sincerity and apology in addition to the activities he does for the public and the youth, we made the decision we made. Omar decided that dealing with this was difficult for him and his family and decided to retire from the Israeli national team for the time being. I can understand him on a personal level and it’s hard for me to judge him.”
The prosecutor’s office closed the case and for you the affair is over. So tomorrow someone will come and petition the Supreme Court and say, for example, that he is not satisfied with the national team’s uniforms or with CEO Yossi Sharabi.
“We have no position on the considerations of the Supreme Court, it is a completely independent organization, even if its decisions do not always agree with our wishes. Of course, the expectation was that if Omar wanted to remain on the Israeli national team, he would have to respect all the association’s institutions, including the court.”
You told him that if he didn’t show up, he wouldn’t be able to be part of the team.
“As someone who represents the national team and the football association, he must respect the institutions. This is true for him and true for everyone in the Israel national team, and also for me. If the court decides that I should appear before it, of course I will appear.”
Lately Mons Davor left the team, Omar Atzili left and also Eran Zahavi with the story of the room. Why do the players have to leave the national teams in a bad way?
“Each one is a story in itself, but in the test of the result we see the team with great successes and the audience that breaks records from game to game. The team does not depend on one player or another and neither does the sympathy. The support and love that the team is currently receiving, it has not received for many, many years.”
Has Eran Zahavi finished his career in the Israeli national team?
“The professional team said that the door to Eran Zahavi is always open and I do not interfere in the considerations of the professional team.”
I think if Eran was at the peak of his career you would give him a suite.
“So I will correct you and say that all professional decisions are the net of the professional team, this is something that did not happen and I am very proud of it.”
What do you mean there wasn’t?
“I won’t add more than that.”
Have Abraham Grant or Dror Kashtan arranged professional things?
“I never said that. We see that there are football clubs that interfere a lot in their professional considerations. In the football association, the teams get full freedom of action and I have never interfered with them. I think it’s very important, so I don’t intend to interfere in any consideration of any player.”
If you think they interfered with Grant or Kasten professional things then you are wrong.
“During my management period of the association, I never interfered.”
Do you expect the team to advance to the Euros?
“If we want to qualify, we need to finish in one of the first two places because the draw is more convenient. We are not playing against Germany or Spain and I expect that if it happens, it will happen at home as we were drawn there. All teams can surprise and the home is with a reasonable draw, so the responsibility It’s all up to us and depends on our ability to demonstrate. If we manage to go up, that means we were good enough, and if not, then not.”
What do you think of Bezalel Smotrich’s threats to football on Saturday?
“I’m not afraid because this issue has been examined very thoroughly and a court decision was reached on the matter four years ago. It is not possible to have any youth departments that do not play on Saturdays and regulation has been made in this area. We have a major infrastructure problem and it is clear to me that when this request arrives, the state will already She studied the subject and delved into it enough.”
And what do you think about him trying to intervene?
“I think that he does not necessarily understand the many meanings found in the subject. The more he gets into the thick of the beam, the more he will understand and we will remain in the current format.”
What do you think is the most important framework in all the upcoming competitions of the national teams?
“Every tournament is an important tournament. The qualifiers for the European and senior championships are the top priority and all our resources go there. Then comes the youth team and then the under-20 team that will participate in the Mondialeto and so on and so forth. The order of priorities is according to age and according to that we will divide the players , we may see players from the under-20 team participating in the senior team as well, but the task is to continue the success we are experiencing in each of the teams.”
Lots of lots and lots of infrastructure are missing. We are still very inferior despite the development and this stops the growth ratio of the players. What do you expect from the state? Does she even count sports?
“I proved to everyone that this is not an excuse and that it is possible to succeed on a European scale despite the problem we have with the infrastructure in the State of Israel. I decided to turn the pyramid upside down and invest in young people and I am convinced that the state will see that when there are great achievements, it will invest enough, certainly in the national arena as well as in the international arena.”
If they haven’t seen it yet, how will they?
“I think we’ll see.”
How do you see dealing with the incessant violence?
“This is a real catastrophe. We see it on the roads, in the schools and on the football fields. Despite this, I think that following the press conference we held yesterday in which the committee’s conclusions were presented, they are groundbreaking and interesting in dealing with the issue. I am sure that the management of the association, as soon as it studies the issue in depth, It will lead to a radical change and the implementation of the conclusions. There are conclusions of a stick and a carrot.”
With all due respect to the committee, this is another report that if the state does not improve enforcement, it will remain another report.
“I have already proven in the past that a report is only the beginning of the road. All the relevant government ministries will receive this report and I agree with you that if there is no assistance, the football teams and institutions will not be able to fight alone. I intend to contact all the relevant offices in order to act on the rapid implementation of the committee’s conclusions and recommendations, I believe that this will become a landmark one day in the history of Israeli football.”