The league administration has a long-term agreement with the players' organization in favor of the Israeli player, but it turns out that the teams are finding ways to circumvent - not violate - the agreement, and create processes that worry everyone for whom the Israeli player is important.
In the coming season, the number of foreigners registered in the Premier League will be the highest ever and the status of the Israeli player will be pushed, even though some young people are going to get significant roles this season.
According to the agreement, the teams can register four or five foreigners in the game form.
Registration of five foreigners entails a fine and also the non-acceptance of the grant given to teams that play with four foreigners.
In recent years, the cost for a team that registered five was 650-600 thousand shekels, and according to estimates this season should be about 800 thousand shekels.
In addition to the amount registered in each game, the teams can have more foreigners on the roster and use them during the season, and in total each team can register up to ten foreigners in the season.
the group
Foreigners on staff
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Maccabi Tel Aviv
8 5
Hapoel Holon
6 5
Hapoel Jerusalem
6 5
Hapoel Tel Aviv
6 4
Bnei Herzliya
6 5
Urban Nes Ziona
5 5
Hapoel Galil Upper
4 4
Hapoel Gilboa/Galil*
6 5
Hapoel Haifa
4 4
Hapoel Eilat
5 5
Hapoel Beer Sheva
5 4
Urban Kiryat Ata
4 4
*London Frantz will not start the season due to injury.
Initially, the high fine deterred most teams, and only the top teams - Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Jerusalem, and Hapoel Holon - used five, while Holon, which has high ambitions in Europe, switched to this format last season. Bnei Herzliya also registered five in recent years, and last season joined the Maccabi trend A head of the military police who was desperate at the bottom - a move that, as we know, did not exactly help her.
The trend of abandoning the four-foreigner format began last season, when many teams began to keep a fifth foreigner as a backup, but they still listed only four per game to avoid the penalty.
After last season all four teams that reached the semi-finals were the ones that registered five foreigners, this season the trend has already strengthened significantly.
The number of teams that will play this season with five foreigners has doubled, and quite a few teams have additional foreigners over their cap to use in the rotation.
Teams that we thought would be the last to give up the financial benefits and status of the Israeli player are going for the "5th model" for the first time, such as Hapoel Gilboa/Galil, which became famous for its Israeli hotbed and Irini Nes Ziona - another team with an Israeli color.
Another question is whether Hapoel Tel Aviv will also increase to five. For the Reds, playing with four foreigners is something conceptual even before the economic consideration, and so far according to the statements they intend to stay with only four. Hapoel has not just invested large sums of money in senior Israelis, but If it also moves to five, it will be the watershed in the league, and may cause more teams to join the trend.
Rami Hadar and Josh Perkins.
Gilboa/Galil also with five foreigners, photo: Udi Tsitiat
Conflict of interest and economic sanctions
There are quite a few reasons for listing five, some of them may even be justified, but the bottom line bodes ill for the local player.
About 65 foreigners - a record number in Israeli basketball - will be registered in the teams at the beginning of the season, and the rosters have not yet been finalized.
While not everyone will be on the floor together, the trend is clear.
Among the reasons for the increase in the number of foreigners we can mention the increase in the number of teams playing in Europe and that need deep rosters, or injuries to foreigners and difficulty in finding immediate replacements during the season, and of course the Israeli market is not large.
There are also other reasons: the corona regulation that increased the seasonal foreigner quota from eight to ten remained in place, and the temporary became permanent.
Now teams can gamble on more foreigners knowing they have the margin to correct.
Tomer Ginat
One of the few still in focus, photo: Oded Karni
Also, the economic sanctions are already less threatening because they are offset by the grants for the performance in the European factories.
On top of that, many teams are angry at the high financial demands of some Israeli players, and according to them it is better for them to register a fifth foreigner instead of an Israeli, with all the costs involved.
And there are those who, in the meantime, remain loyal to the format of only four foreigners in the squad - Hapoel Galil Alyon, Hapoel Haifa and Ironi Kiryat Ata.
As it seems, it is not at all certain that they will last until the end of the season.
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