Israeli Football Forum Asoccer to Shut Down After 25 Years
Asoccer, Israel's legendary football forum, is shutting down after 25 years due to a lack of management, marking the end of an era for local sports media.
After 25 years of activity, Asoccer, one of Israel's oldest and most iconic football forums, is set to shut down. Founded by Yogev Asulin, the platform served as a central hub for generations of Israeli football fans, accumulating over 2.7 million posts, 23,000 discussions, and 14,000 registered users. At its peak, nearly 6,000 users were logged in simultaneously.
Asulin announced last month that he intended to transfer management or close the site due to years of being uninvolved in daily operations while continuing to shoulder hosting and maintenance costs. Despite hopes to find a successor with technical capability and commitment to community development, no suitable candidate stepped forward, prompting the closure.
The platform's rich archive spans coverage of World Cups, European Championships, and Olympic Games, alongside thousands of discussions covering Israeli and international leagues. Users have been urged to back up their content before the shutdown.
Tributes poured in from prominent figures in Israeli sports media. ONE broadcast editor Or Bassan, who spent 19 years on the forum, shared an emotional farewell on X (Twitter). He recalled how the forum sparked his passion for Spanish football and lower-tier leagues, noting its historical significance as a pioneer of sports discourse long before the rise of modern social media networks.
Bassan also highlighted a memorable moment in the forum's history when legendary sports broadcaster Avi Meller frequently consulted the platform to prepare for Italian league broadcasts and credited the site and its members on air. American football expert Eden Roitfarb echoed the sentiment, calling the closure another nail in the coffin of the authentic early internet era.
