| Shimon Mizrahi | |
| Team: | Maccabi Tel Aviv |
| League: | Israeli Premier League EuroLeague |
| Position: | Chairman |
| Birth Date: | 16 October 1939 |
| Birth Place: | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Nationality: | Israeli |
| Highlights: | As Executive:
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Shimon Mizrahi (born October 16, 1939, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli lawyer and the chairman of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club.
Mizrahi is the senior partner in the B. Arnon – S. Mizrahi law office, and specializes in traffic violation cases. In 2006, he defended the prominent attorney Dori Klagsbald, in a high-profile case of manslaughter, following the death of two, a mother and child, that were killed by Klagsbald's vehicle.
Mizrahi was appointed the chairman of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club in 1969.[1] In the wake of the club's financial problems, he introduced various strategies to rescue Maccabi from bankruptcy, such as selling tickets for Maccabi games, which had previously been free. Mizrahi realized that in order to secure Maccabi's dominance in the Israeli Super League, it would have to sign American players.
Since he became the club's chairman in 1969, Maccabi has won 44 Israeli Super League championships, winning the league's title in all but seven seasons (1992–93, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, and 2016–17). The club has also won 36 Israeli State Cup and 7 Israeli League Cup titles during his tenure. The club also won the Adriatic League championship (2012), with Mizrahi running the club. However, Maccabi's main achievement during his time as the club's chairman, includes the winning of 6 top-tier level European-wide titles, as they won the EuroLeague championship 5 times (1977, 1981, 2004, 2005, and 2014), and also the FIBA SuproLeague championship (2001).
Mizrahi was at one time accused by rival clubs of failing to make the Israeli Super League more competitive, by having plans to implement payment limits to players. However, Mizrahi agreed to several new league rules which were meant to weaken Maccabi, such as the Brisker Rule, which limits the number of foreign players every team can sign, and the implementation of a Final Four format, instead of a best-of-five playoff series system, among other rule changes.
On 21 December 2021, Mizrahi was announced as a candidate for the Class of 2022 at the Basketball Hall of Fame.[2]