2021 was not an easy year for Israeli football. Corona remnants and enclosed plots have given their signals, there are groups that have not recovered financially so far and are still paying the price for the virus that has changed everything. Very symbolically, next year opened with the biggest game that Israeli football has to offer (Maccabi Haifa – Maccabi Tel Aviv), and as always it served as a showcase for the entire industry with the green 2: 3.
In honor of the new year that kicked off this week we decided to do an easy lesson in alternative reality: What would happen if all five senior teams were on the shelf? Who was the most attractive to purchase by a new owner – someone who should come and start building from scratch? Which football club has the best foundations? We took the teams one by one, and tried to test – pros and cons.
In fifth place: Betar Jerusalem
Advantage: Above all, the potential. In another reality, Betar could have been a big deal for sports-loving businessmen – it sits on Jerusalem, the holy city of three religions; it is well connected to the political system (the prime minister until recently; the president until recently; the current finance minister – everyone Are identified in one way or another with the club), and it mainly has a wide and large audience, from one end of the country to the other. Seemingly, an opportunity. in practice? We will move on to the disadvantages.
The downside: Above all, the gap. The potential is there, but quite a few people have believed in this potential in the past. In practice, the racist stain and violence of some fan organizations undermines Betar’s attractiveness to the outside world. most. The construction there will be very long, complex, and needs brave people.
In fourth place: Hapoel Tel Aviv
Advantage: Youth departments. Owners Itzik and Sharon Nisnov do not get a particularly good image, some of which is also their fault. But one thing they did right: over the years, they have developed an excellent youth department at the Red Club, recruited respected past players – Uri Ozen, Michael Zandberg, Omar Damari – and put Omar Boxenbaum at the helm, who did a wonderful job. Hapoel Tel Aviv has a big future, and it is something that can be built on even on a rainy day. Talents like Doron Leidner and Osher Davida, who are already starring in the senior team today, and other players knocking on the door – may be a fertile ground for future profit, which could also alleviate the problems the club is facing. Add to that a loyal, strong core of audiences, and you get something that is not bad to invest in.
The downside: in one word? CAS. No one still knows how the legal saga around the contracts that Hapoel will have to pay will end, how much they will have to pay – and whether the club will ever be able to move into new hands at some point, from the hands of the Nisnobs who have long explained that they are not here long term. As above the great rival from Jerusalem, also above Hapoel there is no small cloud – which will make the situation difficult for the new owner. In any case, when the business becomes clear – it may be possible to build something new there.
In third place: Hapoel Beer Sheva
Advantage: Turner as an example. When Alona Barkat took over the club, somewhere in 2007 (Olmert was the prime minister!), He looked like an elderly Vasermil – crumbling, distant and detached from the crowd, one in which it is difficult to grow anything new. Today, 14 years later, Be’er Sheva looks completely different – the city, and the group as well. And the symbol of this is undoubtedly the new and modern stadium, the complete opposite of the same walled stadium built in the late 1950s. Turner, and the crowd within it, are a symbol of the renewal of an entire volume – and also of a club that has returned to speak loudly at the top in recent years, and even to go further than ever – in Israel and Europe.
The downside: Apparently, the feeling that the revolution is not yet completely complete. After 14 years, Be’er Sheva has a stadium and a good and supportive crowd and an impressive record of achievements and a constant rise graph from the days it shuffled in the national league. Still, the club is still built on expensive purchasing players – and in all the staff that Roni Levy has today, there are only two home players: Or Dadia and Tomer Yosefi. Looking at the base that is the club, one would expect the long years to grow a little more at the foundation level; And these are things that may disappear when the current owner moves aside. After all, the club also remembers well what happened around Alona Barkat’s flirtation with the political system.
In second place: Maccabi Haifa
The advantage: really, except for the club that will precede him on the list, it seems that Maccabi Haifa has the ideal conditions for the owner to bounce it forward. Strong youth departments covering the entire northern region, a huge history and heritage of achievements – local and continental (in Israeli terms of course), and above all a home stadium at a high European level – Sami Ofer. And from here we come to a major advantage of Maccabi Haifa – and it is the city of Haifa. Although the third largest metropolis in Israel is smaller than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in recent years almost the entire area has been dedicated to one group. Haifa’s regional radio is devoted almost entirely to the group’s tactical analyzes in the green, including entire broadcast days; And even the municipality itself took advantage of the recent championship to celebrate the achievement, and even named a beach after the club. Haifa belongs to Maccabi (almost) completely, at the level of sympathy – and this can be an extraordinary force.
The downside: Although Haifa is obsessively dedicated to Maccabi, it is not big enough or too attractive. It is not as religious as Jerusalem, not as touristy as Tel Aviv, despite tremendous attempts by the municipality in recent years. Which means that if an owner only looks at the urban brand, then “Maccabi Haifa” is a thousand times bigger than its city, and its audience often comes from outside the city. Those looking for a strong metropolis here to support the group may prefer other options.
In first place: Maccabi Tel Aviv
Advantage: What can be said? Eleven years ago, when Mitch Goldhaar took over Maccabi Tel Aviv – although it was still Maccabi Tel Aviv, an established club with a large audience, there was still something broken in it. My father’s long control of the steering wheel, the ongoing rift between the previous owner and his audience, and the long lack of achievement gave its signals. Today, and there is no dispute about that, Maccabi is in a completely different place. Much more professional, and above all much stronger in its foundations – youth departments and systematic work with foresight. The Canadian owner has laid foundations not only for the day club, but ones that will also stay behind – when he leaves one day, back to business in Canada.
But even before Goldhaar arrives, there is a meeting here between two big brands that generate profits – and attracted a man like Goldhaar in the first place. The first is “Maccabi”, one word that attracts quite a bit of interest in Europe and the world as well, mainly thanks to the successful basketball department – which cradled the name in the difficult years of the football department, and retained the large audience. While Maccabi Tel Aviv football barely brought 4,000 people to home games in Bloomfield, basketball brought 250,000 people to Ganei Yehoshua, with Pini Gershon’s team winning the Euroleague. .
And finally, there is also Tel Aviv. The first Hebrew city, the city of the world and the city that everyone wants to stick to. In many ways, the beautiful face of Israel – a liberal, inclusive place, that also attracts foreign eyes. The glue between “Maccabi” and “Tel Aviv” is probably the great strength of the yellow club in football. And it is also the reason that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have a reason to keep their fingers crossed that their owner stays as long as possible (it is their property), but also in the long run – they really have nothing to worry about. Tel Aviv, like Maccabi, is not going anywhere.
The downside: It is true that Maccabi Tel Aviv is in an ideal place, but without a doubt it is worth noting the problems in the professional management of recent years. Conducted – after he left? Sometimes a charismatic coach like Ivica came into the vacuum, sometimes there was a CEO who flew relatively fast like Ben Mansford, and in the last two years it’s hard to say there is a real professional boss. Van Leven? Yitzhaki? The coaches who changed news for the mornings? When it comes to general management, Maccabi Tel Aviv is ideal; if there is a downside, it comes when it comes to football itself.
And what about Tel Aviv? Unlike Haifa, it is difficult to say that Tel Aviv is devoutly behind Maccabi. Hapoel also plays on the municipal field, with a large fan base, as well as Bnei Yehuda (although this is not a significant threat to municipal hegemony, at least not in recent years). Even if we include the suburbs of Tel Aviv (Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon Lezion), we will understand that the Tel Aviv cake in the field of football is spread more evenly than in Jerusalem of Betar or Haifa of Maccabi. Therefore, the challenge of controlling the city is more significant, although – As mentioned – he is in the best conditions, at least for now.
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