European Cup for Israel: The phenomenon of foreign coaches in Israel

When Oded Katash surprisingly left Hapoel Jerusalem for the job at Panathinaikos, the club’s members did not consider bringing in an Israeli coach at all. “We decided that in the current situation it would be right to sign a foreign coach for quite a few reasons, some of which are related to the fact that he is cut off from what is happening in the country, he has no prior opinion on players, it was important for us to be clean,” said professional manager Yotam Halperin.

So Jerusalem quickly organized zoom interviews with foreign coaches, and eventually chose Dainius Adumatis, who did not coach too much outside of Lithuania, but did headline the national team. “We didn’t bring him in to finish the season, but as a forward look. He can develop and be a really good coach,” Halperin adds.

In the summer of 2019, Holon wanted to sign a foreign coach. The club thought that after Dan Shamir, who brought high standards of training, the next step is to sign a foreign professional with a resume. Names like Elias Zoros (Georgia national team coach), who even made an impression in Israel, came up, but in the end they felt in Holon that they were not ready for the move and agreed with Sharon Drucker. The affair did not last, Drucker was fired and in Holon the idea of ​​a foreign coach returned.

“We got a lot of names,” notes Holon CEO Roi Deborah. “We did screening based on age, mentality, inexperience in the face of over-experience and over-skill. We reached three or four candidates, and in the end we decided to sign Stefanos Dadas. We saw a coach who worked in the Turkish league, one who was less interested in money because he understood the opportunity he was given. We flew him to Israel, met at the Kfar HaMaccabiah Hotel and from there everything is history. “

In Holon, they are in love with Dadas. He is the first coach to raise them in the Champions League after three failed campaigns in which tens of millions of shekels were invested. The team plays fun basketball, has qualified for the Winner’s Cup final, the next stage in the Balkans, the National Cup semi-final and is a legitimate candidate for the championship.

When Maccabi Tel Aviv fired Nevan Spahija, it was clear that the team would continue with a foreign coach. “As a club we are looking for a proven figure at the Euroleague level,” says Nikola Vujicic. “Someone who also knows how to compete in two leagues at the same time. Names like Jasmine Rafsha, and Limir Prasovich and Sasha Gurevitch were available, but in the end Yannis Sapropoulos was chosen.

The defensive-oriented Greek’s resume was impressive: two Euroleague finals and two wins in the Greek Championship with Olympiacos. Indeed, the success was immediate. The connection to the club, to the fans and also to the management is something that has not been seen in the hall for years. This is also one of the reasons why he is credited this season as well, despite the disappointment in the Euroleague and the not-so-beautiful game. Vujicic explains this clearly: “His philosophy fits the DNA of our club and our fans.”

Adomitis, Dadas and Sapropoulos will stand on the lines tonight in the semifinals of their teams’ state cup finals, and will form an absolute majority against the only Israeli in the class, Guy Goodes from Maccabi Rishon LeZion.

Quite a few debates have been raging since the trend began. After all, Ness Ziona (Brad Greenberg), Maccabi Haifa (Daniel Savannah) and Hapoel Tel Aviv until recently (Yannis Castritis) also have foreign coaches.

Although the coaches’ association and the basketball association managed to put in order the criteria of who can coach in the country (for the criteria – see box), it is not certain that they will turn out to be acceptable if one of the teams goes to court. For that matter, if Dadas wanted to come to work in Israel today he could not, because one of the criteria is four years of coaching in the senior league, while the Greek coached “only” three years in the first league in Turkey, which is considered the second strongest in Europe. Holon chairman Eitan Lanciano attacked the authors of the criteria on Twitter after a question was posted: “Racism in its name. Work arrangements not in our school. Citizens out, coaches foreigners out, what’s the next step? Whoever is good is good, it’s sports and private money. Be ashamed, he will not rise and will not be. “

Halperin does not think the criteria are a bad thing: “We want quality basketball here. Once a team wants to bring in a foreign coach, then those criteria show some sort of standard.”

If we put Maccabi Tel Aviv and Jerusalem aside for a moment, there is no doubt that economic weight is of central importance in the decision to prefer a foreign coach. “An Israeli coach comes with high salary demands, and in most cases they are excessive. While a foreign coach, probably from a country like Greece that is in a bad economic situation, will sometimes agree to come even at half price. “If you look at the results in the end, they are the same or even in favor of the foreign coach, so it’s the right move,” said a senior member of one of the Premier League teams.

In addition, the conduct of the foreign coaches is different from that of the Israelis. Deborah details: “Dadas is in no hurry to sign players and does not put pressure on the management. He is a very systemic type, flows with what is there, and it is something that creates less conflicts and tensions in the organization. The fact that he is here without family allows him to flex and work more hours. “In the morning, put the child in kindergarten or school, or pick him up in the afternoon. This is something that an Israeli with a commitment outside of work can do less.”

Although Adumatis has been in Jerusalem for a short time, they also notice differences, even between him and other foreign coaches who worked before him. “When Photis Katsikaris coached us, he interfered in everything, even in the type of jerseys in training. It was delusional. Simona Pianijani in general had demands from here to Japan,” they say in Jerusalem. “The training with Adumatis is longer, even longer than that of Katsch. He explains the exercises, goes into subtleties and makes a lot of personal conversations with players.”

Deborah gives an example of small things that impressed him and the players at Dadas: “In every game he makes a video tutorial 45 minutes before the jumpball. It gives the players a little more refinement, and something they haven’t done before. In addition, already in the locker room he tells the players what Exercises will be played in the first two attacks, and that’s something else that puts them in focus. “

In light of the success with Dads, it does not appear that in the coming years a local coach will work in Holon, even if the Greek leaves. In Jerusalem, despite the decision to sign Adumatis, no return to future sources is ruled out. “I think this is a time, and that later on, both young and experienced Israeli coaches will return to the forefront of the stage,” says Halperin.

And although Maccabi Tel Aviv? Vujicic is not ready to answer the question about the possibility that an Israeli coach will coach the club in the near future, the fact that the Yellows declare that they are looking for a professional who is a figure in the Euroleague, pretty much closes the story.