Ukrainian Canuck Buys Maccabi Tel-Aviv

By: chris | December 19th, 2007

Ukrainian-born Canadian billionaire Alex Schnaider just gave himself a wonderfully expensive Christmas gift by purchasing the most successful team in the history of Israeli football. The rumored price is around $20m for 80% ownership, a sum which wouldn’t even buy a starter for Chelsea’s reserve team, but is still a sizable chunk of money in a league which is not globally glamorous. Normally this is a tame “owner transition” story, but not when Maccabi Tel-Aviv is brought into the equation, and especially not its fans.

Schnaider, who makes his money in the metal business, has purchased the task of restoring glory to Maccabi, whose greatest claim to fame is that they’ve never been dropped down to the second division, and the only team in the history of the Israeli Premier League who can say this. Well this year that record is in a little bit of trouble, as they’ve only won 3 games and are only sitting 3 points above the drop zone in 8th, out of only 12 teams.

They’ve won 18 league titles and 22 cup titles, but have really struggled in recent years under the overwhelming expectations which come from both wearing the jersey and the fans, who are notorious for their demanding expectations. The culture and passion of the fans is called “Maccabism”, and can be pretty much well summed up by traveling to a fan site or two: basically, win everything. EVERYTHING, damnit. No exceptions.

So, while Alex surely has the buck to bring into the equation, let’s just say he isn’t exactly bringing the best resume to the table. Metal industry wonders aside (I’m assuming you can’t become a billionaire without having a little bit of a Midas touch in the business world, but I have yet to be afforded the opportunity to find out), Alex bought a Formula 1 racing team a few years ago in 2005. A team which floundered in F1 under Schnaider, and was then sold in 2006. No fans for any team appreciates the wham, bam, thank you ma’am treatment from investors. I’m going to go ahead and guess that’s true ten-fold for the Maccabists. Sounds like Alex has some work on his hands.