Class, capital and social mobility: Israeli football players in the Egged Transport Cooperative

During Israel’s first three decades, Israeli football adopted the amateurism principle which prohibited football players from receiving any monetary or other compensation for playing football. Despite this prohibition, many top football players obtained sought-after jobs at Egged, Israel’s leading transport cooperative, along with shares in the cooperative. Using a Bourdieusian theoretical framework, this paper examines Israeli football players’ ability, most of whom came from the working or lower middle classes, to use the types of capital they amassed to improve their economic and social positions.