Huge Budget, Big Names: Bnei Eilat's 'Galacticos' Project in Liga Bet
While the summer off-season is quiet, Liga Bet's Bnei Eilat is building a 'mini-Galacticos' project. With high-profile signings and an ambitious three-year plan, the club aims for the National League.
While the summer off-season is quite sleepy, there is one team in Liga Bet that is shaking up the player market in Israeli football. Far from the center stage, in the country's tourism capital, Bnei Eilat is building a mini-Galacticos with the signing of sparkling names like Gil Itzhak, Gidi Kanyuk, Ofek Fishler, and Ben Yehezkel — all with experience in the top leagues. Kobi Refua, who coached Hapoel Tel Aviv, Maccabi Petah Tikva, and Kiryat Shmona just a few years ago, will serve as the professional director. The coach is Meir Cohen, the legendary goalkeeper of Hapoel Beit Shean.
Thinking Big
Behind the ambitious project are businessman David Vaturi and his wife Natalie. The project launches this evening at the city's sports complex, where the professional staff and players are being presented. The event includes a DJ, music, a photo wall, and food stalls — because in Eilat, despite being a club from Liga Bet, they think big.
Vaturi, a businessman from Ashkelon, did not plan to buy Bnei Eilat. "We deal in sanitation," he says. "We purchased a company in Eilat and planned to be sponsors only. I arrived at Mayor Eli Lankri, who told me: 'Why think small? Let's think big and buy the team'."
Private Chef and 5-Star Hotel
To celebrate the signing, the new professional director, Kobi Refua, arrived at the Vaturi family home in Ashkelon, where a private chef was waiting. He closed a three-year contract with a salary of 400,000 shekels per season, a room in a five-star hotel, a car, and a fuel card. He will be professionally responsible for everything that happens in the club — from the adult team to the youth department.
"It's true that it's Liga Bet, but I identified the potential and the desire of the people," revealed Refua. "I also understand what the reality is today in the Premier League, and I have a lot of motivation to succeed."
Ambitions and Development
The budget of Bnei Eilat is expected to stand this season at at least three million shekels. Vaturi promises: "We are not taking one shekel to our pocket. Everything that comes in from sponsors will go to the club. I estimate our investment at about six million shekels over the next three years." The goal is to reach the National League within three years, with an emphasis on developing the youth department so that children in Eilat do not have to travel to the boarding schools of Maccabi Haifa or Hapoel Tel Aviv.
