Arcadi Gaydamak has reached an agreement to sell Beitar Jerusalem to US businessmen Dan Adler and Adam Levin. Gaydamak acquired the Ligat Ha'al soccer team in 2005 and won back-to-back league championships in 2006/07 and 2007/08. Under his ownership, the team also won two Israel FA Cups in 2007/08 and 2008/09.
However, Gaydamak lost interest in the team after the economic crisis of 2008. He reportedly invested more than $100 million in the team, mainly before the crisis, which hit his business empire hard.
It is unclear how much Adler and Levin are paying for the club, if anything. But their intervention comes just after the team agreed a budget of NIS 25 million for next season, and one of the new owners first tasks will be to put at least NIS 10 million into the club, which is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Gaydamak is one of several foreign Jewish owners who put money into Israeli soccer clubs but have now pulled out including Daniel Jammer at Maccabi Netanya and Alex Shnaider at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Beitar Jerusalem spokesman Assaf Shaked confirmed that Gaydamak had sold the club. He said, "Beitar has passed into the hands of new owners. This is a happy moment for the club and the fans. We have been through a difficult period recently."
The deal was reportedly brokered in London over the past few days where club chairman Itzik Kornfein met with Adler and Levin, who are both known as generous donors to Israeli causes.
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