The heads of Shimshon Kfar Qasem Club have expressed interest in purchasing Hapoel Tel Aviv from the Nisanov brothers, according to a report by The Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew sister paper, Maariv.
The club, owned by Israeli Arabs, has managed over the last few years to reach the top of League A and to sign well-known players such as Siraj Nassar and Mohammad Badir.
The chairman of the club is Ehab Sarsur, but the financial backing behind it comes from his brother Saed, an Israeli-British businessman. Maariv reported that Sarsur has been examining the value of the team and the projected cost of court decisions still pending against Hapoel Tel Aviv by FIFA and other legal authorities in Europe.
It was reported that the fines would be around $7 million euros (NIS 28.7 m.), but Maariv has learned that they are probably much lower.
At this point, the verdicts are still pending against the club, since FIFA has not yet decided who they really belong to: Harel Holding, or the new association that currently manages Hapoel Tel Aviv.
Saed Sarsur, who lives in London, is the principal owner of SOA Energy Israel. His company recently bought 70% of the rights in the Yahel and Ofek licenses from energy group Globe Exploration. He is also pro-Israeli and, in 2017, put together an ambitious project called Sports for Peace, which aims to build a giant sports complex in his hometown of Kfar Kassem that can host swimming and tennis competitions for both Jews and Arabs.
Maariv reached out to Ehab Sarsur, but he would not confirm the report.