miser? "At the age of 7 I asked my father for football, he took out a loan and said it was the last gift until the bar mitzvah" • Remote control manager? "The achievements of Hapoel Haifa - the State Cup, the Toto Cup, the Champion of Champions and the Youth Championship - were achieved in this way" • Forget everything you thought you knew about Yoav Katz

• Yoav Katz. "We will fight hard for the ticket to Europe"

  Photo: 

  Maor Alexelsi

Yoav Katz is about to start his 17th season as owner of Hapoel Haifa, but something about this man, even at the age of 76, is still unresolved. He is more open to communication than any other team owner in the Premier League, realizing it is a show business. Perhaps this is the American culture rooted in it. But even though dozens of interviews have been conducted with him, no one really knows what is behind the Jewish businessman who owns a lot of real estate in the United States, but also the small Hapoel Haifa - the only business he owns in Israel.

In a special interview with "Israel Today" on the occasion of the opening of the 2020/21 season, Katz opened slowly, just like a shell that is slowly cracking, but in the end he created an image in which the visible rabbi over the hidden. In a reality where a phone call is the only way to talk to him, this too has not been an easy task. But even through the line to Washington he was able to make us understand what lies behind the personality that everyone "knows".

"I did not think I would own Hapoel Haifa for so many years," he tells his story with Israeli football, "I would come to Israel four or five times a year to take care of my parents' health. I was looking for a job in Israel, and then Hapoel Haifa went on the market. Of course I have sentiments for the team, because I went to see her play at the age of 6. I even played basketball for her seniors. So I said, 'If I can help, that's great.' That my parents are no longer with us. "

Katz with Sylves. "After I leave Hapoel Haifa, I'm not sure anyone will remember me" // Photo: Maor Elkelsi

"The image is wrong, but we will not fight it"

At first, you received a lot of criticism for managing Hapoel Haifa from the United States. Suddenly, Mitch Goldhaar, who manages Maccabi Tel Aviv with a remote control, arrived, and slowly it became natural. Could you have done it better?

"Hapoel Haifa is well managed. Today it is easier to manage from a distance because there is zoom, Skype and all kinds of other software. Maccabi Tel Aviv's great achievements were achieved precisely when the team was managed remotely. Hapoel Haifa's achievements - the State Cup, the Toto Cup, the Champions' Champion and the Youth Championship - were also achieved by remote management. The problem is probably less big than it used to be. "

You come to the country occasionally, but now with the corona it is impossible.

"This year is especially difficult. Every year I come to Israel several times and spend time with the team in training camp, but this time I will not be able to do it.

"I have several records in life: at the age of 15 and a half, I played in the senior five of Hapoel Haifa in basketball; I was the first Israeli to play in colleges in the United States; And the third highlight is that I have been operating a football team on a remote control for 17 years. "

We'll talk about your image. Travel on Road 6, hot water in Kiryat Haim. Not exactly flattering.

"This image is wrong, and I never thought to fight it. I laughed about it. I do not know what is happening in the Israeli swamp, so let's say I ignored it."

So maybe you will reveal how much money you have invested in the club? You have quite a few players who earn between 40,000 and 80,000 shekels a month.

"It's tens of millions of dollars. I don't like to talk about money, but it's the truth. In the United States, CEOs of large companies would be happy to receive the salaries of Israeli players at Hapoel Haifa, and those are people in their 50s and 60s, not 20s or 20s. "30

Hapoel Haifa is managed in Israel by three people: CEO Oren Sterling, spokesman Noam Regev and secretary. How is this possible?

"Our form of management is very family-oriented, which is one of the reasons coaches who left us want to return. Players too. This is also the main reason why in the last decade we have achieved the greatest achievements in the club's history. "We are not institutional, but family."

"We were in the bunker, we ate puppies"

Katz has one daughter named Ruth, and from him he has two grandchildren. He lives in a relationship in the US, but when asked about family he immediately admits: “I don’t like talking about my personal life. Business is fine, but private life is out of bounds. That's my character. If one mixes with the other - it's not healthy. "

Katz. "My daughter says I was a bad husband, but a great father" // Photo: Maor Elkelsi

But despite this he tried to open up, as if trying to explain that behind the character was a father, grandfather, a different kind of family man. And he has every reason to. In the firm he has pictures of his grandchildren, 7-year-old Ella and 5-year-old Tyler. He is proud that his daughter is a successful lawyer ("managing partner in a large firm"). "My daughter says I was a bad husband, but a great father. I'm also a good grandfather, that's for sure."

You never talked about your family, suddenly you tell about being a good grandfather. Explain.

"I meet the grandchildren two or three times a week. We play football, basketball, even football together. Near their house there is a big garden and it's our fun. It takes me back to my childhood in Kfar Galim. Sometimes, after getting tired of sports, I go up to the computer games with them. "And we finish with a light meal. In the meantime, it's working."

When we got to the discourse on childhood, things became much more understandable. Suddenly the things that shaped Katz's personality float quickly up. He comes to work in plain jeans, you will never see him dressed in designer clothes, and it's not that he can not afford.

"My time as a child was a period of austerity," he explains, "we grew up hungry for bread. My strongest memories are of Jerusalem, where we had to stand in line to get water. In 1948 there was a siege on the city, we were in a bunker and ate buns, vegetables from the ground, because no "There was food. I was 4 years old, but I remember it very strongly. All the gifts I received up to the age of 18 amounted to two books."

At this point in the conversation, Katz could no longer be stopped. "We used to use rags to make footballs. I remember asking my dad to buy me a football, he took out a loan for me. It was at the age of 7. When he already gave it to me, he added that it was the last gift to the bar mitzvah. Today, as a grandfather, I never Reaches my grandchildren empty-handed. "

Is that why you're never seen driving luxury cars, wearing jewelry or doing anything of the kind that characterizes business people?

"I got used to living modestly. It's not just me, but this whole generation. The wars have done it, the hunger, the austerity. I have been driving the same car for years, it has done 100,000 miles and its value is $ 5,000, no more. That's enough for me, I feel uncomfortable with a fancy car. I once came to Israel and the only car for rent was a Mercedes, so I told them that they would give it to me for two or three days and that they would replace it with another, simpler one. It's not a matter of money. I can also drive a $ 100,000 car, but I prefer something more modest. "

Katz with the grandchildren. "All the gifts I received up to the age of 18 amounted to two books"

How is this modesty reflected in the rest of your life? You can afford anything you want financially.

"I'm also modest at home. I live in a simple house in a simple neighborhood in Washington, but I have everything I need. I don't have a pool, but I have all the things I love: a piano I play, a library with a lot of books and a classic record store. I I really like classical music, it calms me down a lot, probably more than a game of Hapoel Haifa. "

As a Jewish businessman, do people ask you for donations? How do you decide who to donate to and who not?

"We ask a lot. On the one hand it is a culture of 'snoring', but there is also mutual help. Where I feel there is mutual help - I am inside. Here, in the synagogue in Washington, it is not like in Israel that it is state-funded. In the US the community funds The synagogues, so I give because it's important to me. If I do not feel that way, I'm out. "

How do you think they will remember Yoav Katz, the owner of Hapoel Haifa for almost two decades?

"One day, after I leave Hapoel Haifa, I'm not sure anyone will remember me. And that's fine, that's how it works. Football is a show business. I do not know how they will remember me, I do not have a 'lobby' like other team owners.

"In the show business, the show goes on, and if you are not in the headlines - no one remembers you. One day I was standing in line for a security check before an El Al flight to the United States. Ehud Barak stood in front of me. Suddenly some people came to me and asked for a picture and an autograph. "He's a prime minister, chief of staff and former defense minister, and I'm just a shamander," he laughs.

You said before that you take great care of your grandchildren. How much money did they lose from the inheritance because of Hapoel Haifa?

"Quite a bit. But when people inherit too much money, it's not good either. You have to know to fight for the money. I work with someone who inherited millions of dollars and spent it all on horses and nonsense. He was the grandson of one of the rich people, so the money didn't really help him. ".

Hapoel Haifa players. "Hope all players recover soon" // Photo: Maor Elkelsi

By how much have you cut your budget this season?

"The budget went down as the Treasury asked, by about 30 percent."

What season is Hapoel Haifa going to? What are the goals?

"We have an unusual number of injuries, seven players. I hope they will recover soon. In the last three years, Hapoel Haifa has been in the top playoffs twice. I hope we will reach this season as well, we will fight hard for a ticket to Europe and the National Cup."