Beitar Jerusalem’s deal with Emirati businessman, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, is currently under a threat of termination.
A month and a half to the announcement of one of the most incredible deals in world football - an Emirati Muslim Arab buying 50% of Beitar Jerusalem - things are seemed to be stuck, as the deals’ obstacles are piling up.
In an interview with Sport 5, Moshe Hogeg, Beitar owner, has said that the two “haven’t spoken since last Wednesday”, and detailed few of the challenges in completing the deal.
The main hurdle currently holding the deal from completion is the Sheikh’s good conduct certificate from the Emirati police. The Israeli Football Association Rights Transfer Committee included the document in the initial list of required approvals that Bin Khalifa will need to provide for the deal, already in late November 2020. So far, Bin Khalifa and his people failed to file this certificate. Moreover, after a significant turmoil in Israel around the deal, and the real motives behind it, the Sheikh and his entourage refused to provide more details and documents with the Rights Transfer Committee.
“What’s going in the current weeks is on the verge of bizarre”, sources who were part of the negotiations have told Walla! Sports at the weekend.
The past month included a private investigation of the Israeli FA around the Sheikh’s wealth declaration and background, and the findings were troubling.
“We will see what we can do to save the deal,” Hogeg said to Sport 5. “Maybe we’ll try to find a different path for Bin Khalifa as a sponsor at first, but things aren’t simple at the moment”, he concluded.
The ‘impossible’ deal is in a genuine threat of cancellation.
The full story behind the deal, and the hectic recent month and a half, is coming soon.
