ABSTRACT
This article explores the roots of football corruption in Israel in the first decades after independence. A socio-historical analysis of documents, correspondence, and newspaper items reveals the key role played by sports officials in corruption in the football industry. More broadly, the article shows that the historical context and a political model of commitment to political centres in which sports in Israel in general and Israeli football in particular operated constituted fertile ground for unorthodox conduct and practices that undermined the integrity of football matches. These findings challenge various theories that argue that corruption in sports has universal features that are independent of specific historical, social, cultural circumstances.
