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"I am more respected in Israel than in France" Israel today

2021-01-20T07:10:50.219Z


After rejecting offers from top clubs in his homeland, Frederick Bourdieu has the opportunity to make history tonight with Hapoel Holon | Israeli basketball


Frederic Bourdieu turned down offers from top clubs in France to stay in the Premier League • He turns teams into winners and admits he is not the star, and missed the Euroleague dream only because of the Citizens' Act • Tonight (19:30) he has a chance to make history with Hapoel Holon, on French soil

  • Bourdieu in action.

    Was in the plans of Sapropolus

    Photography: 

    Alan Shiver

Most of the clubs in the Premier League have in recent years received a complete refusal from Frederick Bourdieu despite having made him proper financial offers.

He is a picky player who only wants to play in teams that compete in a European tournament and at the same time fight at the top of the table.

He rightly came to this position.

All the last teams he played for were very successful.

In the 2018/19 season, Hapoel Eilat qualified for the Final Four, last season Maccabi Rishon Lezion recorded a very respectable campaign in the EuroCup and was ranked third during the corona break in the Premier League, and now, at Hapoel Holon, it is an integral part of the team's excellent run. .

"I'm never the star of the team, because I do not have the ability to score 40 points in every game," he says honestly in an interview with Israel Today, "but I bring defense and good energy to the team, connecting everyone. I am very competitive and hate to lose. My teams are winning teams because I share that feeling with the rest of the players. My mom always told me 'this is an important game', so I told her, 'you always tell me this.' She replied, 'Right, exactly. Every game It is important'".

Bourdieu, a French Jew with Israeli citizenship, has been playing in Israel for three and a half years.

He started the last season without a team, although he received some nice offers in France (including a questionnaire from Rafi Manco), but he decided to wait for the right offer in Israel and in the end it arrived at the end of October from Hapoel Holon.

"I left France in 2017 to come to Israel. I feel good and love playing here. I knew that if I returned to France I would not leave again, and I felt it was not the time to go back there. Hapoel Holon is a very professional organization, and I think we are also super-competitive this year. "In every factory we are at the top, and I'm glad that's the decision I made. The Monaco coach called me and wanted me to come, I felt he could also guarantee me minutes, but in Israel I am respected more than in France - so I refused."

Worth a few minutes in the Euroleague

Bourdieu (29) was born in the small and beautiful town of Grass, located on the French Riviera.

His father lives in Paris, and he grew up with his mother (a former basketball player) and his three brothers.

"It's the best place to live in the world. Good weather, beach, mountains and lots of quiet. When I finish my career I go back there."

At the age of 15, his mother sent him to INSEP, the Academy of Olympic Athletes in France, where the ten best athletes in each year play and train in the various disciplines.

Along with him played Owen Fournier (Orlando Magic), Leo Westerman (Barcelona) and Joffrey Lubren (four seasons in the NBA and currently in Zalgiris Kaunas).

"LeBron is not only my best friend, he's really kind of a family. We spend a lot of time together. I also went out with his cousin for eight years. He was supposed to get married last summer, but because of Corona the wedding was postponed to this coming summer." 

To this day Westerman, Louvre and Bourdieu are a cohesive bunch.

"Always when Joffrey is at home on the weekend Leo is there. They played together in the partisan and also in Fenerbahce. When they come to play against Maccabi I always go to their hotel and we sit and talk."



"Look what it is, Leo is very lucky. Sharas loves him, he is his guy. He loved him at Zalgiris and now he has taken him to Barcelona as well. I am happy for him to have a coach to follow him."

Do you want to get to the Euroleague?

"I hope I fit into this senior enterprise. Every year I hope I can get there, it's my dream. Soon I'm 30, so I need to mark that as a goal. I know how to score well outside the arc and I also have good defense, so I think I Can play a few minutes in the Euroleague, maybe not in a major role, but can give a few minutes when needed. "

This dream almost came true last summer.

Maccabi Tel Aviv, which signed him to the Corona League, wanted to keep him for the current season as well, but following the Citizens' Law (limiting their number in the team) decided in the end not to sign him for another season.

"I talked to coach Sapropoulos after the Final Four, and he told me they wanted me to stay. When I was there I showed professionalism and they liked my mentality. The program really was that I would stay, but basketball is business, and until you sign - nothing is certain."



Bourdieu is in fact the biggest victim of the new Citizenship Act.

On the one hand he has no tax benefit because he is French and not American, but on the other hand according to the definitions of the law he has to pay tax on the current season.

His representatives and members of Hapoel Holon are working on the issue and hope to receive an exception from the basketball association's court. 

Bourdieu wants to offer his own solution for the defense of the Israeli basketball player without harming the citizens.

"This law is completely stupid. If they want to be fair then we have to keep the Russian law (two Israelis on the field at any given moment, YM) and make sure that every player pays taxes in the same way.

"If there are those who pay less because of the laws of the country, then the teams will complete it and that way they will bring in players only because of the quality and not because of the price."

Do you want to play for the Israeli national team?

"Of course. I told my agent to check if I could go to training in one of the team windows. Even if not to be at 12, because I know there are already veteran players on the team and everything is organized, but even to be a part. If I have the option it will really make me proud To wear the Israeli national team jersey. "

Do not like Will Solomon

Bourdieu made his first steps in his professional career in the Antibes team in the 2009/10 season.

He later returned for three more seasons before arriving in Israel.

In his second term with the French team, he played alongside Will Solomon, ex Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv. "I have no good memories of him, I was not nice to play with him," the guard says honestly, "he is an amazing player and even when he was 37 he showed a high level. "But it's really not the type of player I like to play with."

The Brooklyn Nets player Timothy Lowe Grave who was also born on the French Riviera and played with him in Antibes, Bourdieu definitely loves.

The two are good friends and also have big plans for the future.

"After the career we want to take the team out of my city and own the team or he will be the owner and I will be the professional manager. I do not know if we will do it, but it is the plan to do something good for the young people in our area. We have already started taking care of all the necessary arrangements." .

Tonight (Wednesday, 19:30), on French soil, Bourdieu will try to help Hapoel Holon make history and qualify for the next stage of the Champions League for the first time in the club's history. For that the Purples have to beat Shula. "The coach told us that it is very important for the history of the club. We are in good shape, and I hope we will qualify and in the second round we will already have our audience. I have been in Israel for several years and know that Holon fans give you 15-10 points per game, they will die for you, it "We owe it to them."

Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2021-01-20

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