REINEH, Israel — Jamil Bsoul is smiling. The mayor has clearly delivered this line before. But after all that his community’s soccer club has achieved, and in such a short time, that is what makes it fun.
“Before the season started, everyone said we have no chance of staying in the second division,” Bsoul said. “They were right. Because we went up.”
His community’s soccer team, Maccabi Bnei Reineh, did not exist until six years ago. Less than two years ago, in September 2020, it was still a largely unknown club from a small Arab village of 18,000 people near Nazareth, preparing for yet another season in the Israeli fourth division.