Maccabi Tel Aviv won the Israeli Basketball League title on Tuesday night, beating Hapoel Tel Aviv and taking the finals series 3-1 after a dramatic victory. The championship celebration came at Hapoel’s home arena, and the rivalry quickly spilled into postgame gestures from both sides.
As soon as the buzzer sounded and Maccabi’s celebrations began, Hapoel blasted its anthem, “Le’olam Lo Titz’i Levad” (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”), over the arena speakers. Maccabi responded with a pointed jab at Hapoel owner Ofer Yannay on X, posting an image of a gold and blue watch with the caption, “What time is it for you?”
The post referred to a pre-final report in Serbian outlet Mozart that Yannay had offered Hapoel players a hard-to-refuse incentive. According to that report, each Hapoel basketball player was allowed to choose a luxury Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watch, worth at least 50,000 euros, if the team stayed together, overcame its crisis, and ultimately won the championship.
Under that reported promise, the watches would become the players’ permanent property only if Hapoel lifted the trophy. Instead, Maccabi celebrated the title at Hapoel’s expense, and Hapoel answered the loss with its own loud symbolic response inside the arena.
