Hapoel Jerusalem will be under new management with Matan Adelson taking over the ownership of the club from Eyal Chomski who had been the face of the organization over the past decade.

Chomski entered the team together with Ori Allon as they began to build a new infrastructure that would eventually lead to 3 Israel State Cups, 2 Israeli League Championships along with many highlights and excitement over the years.

Just as Adelson takes the keys to the car so to speak, Chomski spoke about his time at the head of Hapoel Jerusalem as he discussed a wide range of topics from violence in sports, some of the most incredible moments in charge, trying to convince Maccabi Tel Aviv that the Reds being in the Euroleague would be a good thing for Israeli hoops and much more.

“First off, I want to wish Matan Adelson much success not just on the court but also off of it,” Homsky began. “I felt the right thing to do for Hapoel Jerusalem was to give Matan Adelson to Hapoel Jerusalem and it’s a good thing for the club. I understood that I had to step aside because what is most important to me in Hapoel Jerusalem. I don’t know anything about what will be the future of the club and I have no concrete ideas as to what will occur with the club. Matan is a real bright light for Hapoel Jerusalem and it’s good news for everyone. I think at the end of the day I’m an intuitive person and I believe in Matan. I believe he understands the importance and that the club is above all. I believe that things will just keep growing from here on in.”

“I just ended ten years to the date being part of the ownership group of the club after Ori Allon and I bought the team exactly a decade ago. I also want to thank Guy Harel who was my right hand man for the first nine years. He is the number one person in basketball in this country who knows so much about the sport and the ins and outs and the numbers behind it. I want to thank Moshe Greenberg who took over for Ori the past five years as well as Arn Tellem who was part of the ownership group with Ori. Thanks to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion who helped us over the past number of very tough years.”

Chomski looked back at how he helped build up the club and also listed some of age accomplishments, “I’m very proud of what we did here over the last ten years, how we built an infrastructure that Jerusalem can compete in Israel. When we began to see how we were going to take our first steps with the club, we were asked who we wanted to look like and we said Hapoel Jerusalem, ourselves.”

“We started making some big changes when we bought the team as we moved out of Malha where we had about 1500 fans at games and now in the Arena we have 6-7k. We won two league titles and three State Cups, we made it to EuroCup semifinals against Valencia and the Basketball Champions League just this season. If you look at the average of titles we captured, we won a title every single season. We are in a place that is totally different than years ago. I’m very proud as to what we have done here.”

The former owner continued, “This past season was very challenging and I took it upon myself to save Hapoel Jerusalem including all of the financial and professional challenges that we had. Our coach Aleksandar Dzikic who was introduced to me by Guy Harel was special and we won the Cup and had almost 12k people in the arena. As a club we had to experience in what occurred in Athens which was a situation that our fans lives were threatened.”

“We then made it to the final of the BCL but didn’t make it to the finals of the league, but that is sports, those who don’t know how to lose won’t know how to win. However, we don’t know how we lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv and we cried on the court. The fact that we did cry means something did happen here over the past ten years.”

There are questions surrounding the future of head coach Aleksandar Dzikic despite him having sighed a one tear extension as he said, “If I stay here” during his final television appearance of the season after losing to Hapoel Tel Aviv in the semifinals.

“As for the coach, I can’t say anything about the club because it’s not under my control, but I really hope he will be here.”

Chomski also touched on the topic of the Euroleague which he along with Ori Allon very much wanted to be a part of, “We really wanted to get to the Euroleague and we weren’t successful. I understood that Maccabi Tel Aviv did not want us to play in the Euroleague and I tried to explain that it will only help Israeli basketball with rivalries like Panathinaikos and Olympiacos, Real Madrid and Barcelona, Fenerahce and EFES and that it would help their finances we well, but I didn’t succeed. I do hope that Matan will succeed.”

With the upcoming finals series between Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv on to open up on Thursday night there has been a big discussion about violence surrounding the Derby as the yellow-and-blue didn’t want to hand over the tickets allocated for the reds due to past issues. Chomski was very stark with his words about what had been occurring recently in the arenas and stadiums around the country.

“If we don’t stop the violence someone will get killed. We all have to take a part in helping stop the violence in sports. I hope that the game on Thursday won’t end in a disaster. We need an iron fist against anything that will promote violence and we need to do things to stop violence whether it’s not allowing visiting fans into the arena or the like.”

Just as Chomski began to wrap up he spoke from the heart as to what the club means to him and to many others, “The most important thing was the family feel which is the base of the club and then it was the performance on the court. We have people from all walks of life in the arena and we have fans from all over. Some of the great things we did as a family and that I will remember is going to the graves of the fans who had died with the trophies.”

“What is most important for me is to see Hapoel Jerusalem succeed. My heart is Hapoel Jerusalem no matter what I’m doing and I want to thank Hapoel for giving so many people joy over the years.”