A court has issued a restraining order against Ophir Regev, chairman of lower-division club Hapoel Lod Beni Regev, after a sports lawyer accused him of threatening his life during a dispute over the club's unpaid debts, ONE reported.
Attorney Ohad Cohen, who co-chairs the Israel Bar Association's law-and-sport committee, told police he received threatening text messages last Thursday night, shortly before 11pm, tied to his role in blocking Hapoel Lod's registration for the 2026/27 season.
Cohen represents clients owed money by the club under arbitration rulings that Hapoel Lod has still not paid. Israeli clubs cannot register squads for a new season while such debts are outstanding, and the deadline to do so was fast approaching — Monday at 5pm — when the messages arrived, according to ONE.
Cohen filed a police complaint that same evening, consulting the Bar Association before doing so. Within hours, a restraining order was granted barring Regev from approaching him.
"Red lines have been crossed," Cohen said, according to ONE. "Threatening a lawyer's life for doing his job is a serious crime."
Regev denied any involvement when put to him by ONE. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said. "If he finds one message from me in the last two years, I'll go to jail myself."
The order threatens to complicate a hearing due before the Israel Football Association's court this week, where Cohen and Regev were both set to appear over the same registration dispute — a session ONE said may now need to be postponed.
Hapoel Lod took the Beni Regev name in 2024 in tribute to Ophir Regev's late father, the club's longtime chairman and a dominant figure in Lod football for decades. Ophir Regev has led the club in the years since.
