It’s Official: Leviev To Purchase Soccer Club

After weeks of silence, yesterday Lev Leviev officially announced he is adding the Hapoel Tel Aviv soccer club to his portfolio of companies. The diamond and real estate billionaire paid NIS 20 million ($4.4 million) for a 75 percent stake in the club.

Leviev will assume control of the club in May – without the club's current debts.

One of the issues concerning the purchase was the league's Saturday games. Leviev, an orthodox Jew, was quoted in the Israeli press as saying “everything I and Hapoel Tel Aviv can do, we will try to cause the team not to desecrate the Sabbath. This is something that is very important to me and we’ll try to implement it.

Why Leviev would want to buy an Israeli soccer team is not known. Soccer teams are rarely profitable, and all of the Israeli teams are money losing enterprises. According to Leviev's spokesperson, the decision was the result of a gentlemanly agreement with Russian billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich.

According to the spokesman, Abramovich asked Leviev why he did not buy a soccer team in Israel, to which Leviev replied that he would do so when Abramovich donated money to the Jewish community. Once Abramovich made a big donation, Leviev started shopping around.

Another soccer club owner in Israel is business rival Arcadi Gaydamak, who bought Betar Jerusalem a few months ago.