What is Walla Sport?
Walla Sport is the sport service of the Israeli portal וואלה. It is published at sports.walla.co.il, a subdomain of the parent site, and the portal's footer places sport as one vertical among news, culture, celebrities, finance, food, fashion, health, travel, technology, real estate, local and automotive.[1][2]
The portal's own about page gives its corporate history in dated steps: it "החלה את פעילותה בשנת 1995 כמדריך האתרים הישראלי הראשון", began operating in 1995 as Israel's first Israeli website directory; became a public company in 1999, its shares trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange; and was taken into full ownership by Bezeq in April 2012.[2]
The current ownership is stated on the same page: Walla is owned by the Jerusalem Post Group, which acquired it in December 2020, and the group also includes Maariv, Radio 103FM and Sport 1. The page names Gideon Ozen as chief executive from May 2025, Or Zelakowitz as chief editor from January 2025 and Nati Ben Moshe as vice-president digital from June 2025.[2] Haaretz had reported the transaction on 16 September 2020: Eli Azur bought the site from Bezeq for 65 million shekels, of which 55 million was cash and the remaining 10 million was to be paid in free advertising on Walla over a seven-year period, and Azur's other holdings were given as the Jerusalem Post, the Maariv daily, the radio stations 103FM and Eco99, the Charlton sports channels and a billboard advertising firm.[4] The two sources give different dates for the change of ownership and neither says which stage its own date marks.
What does Walla Sport cover?
The service's own listing covers Israeli football — Ligat ha'Al, the lower leagues, the national cups and the national teams — and international football, naming the English, Spanish, Italian, German and French leagues and the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. In basketball it lists the Israeli leagues, the EuroLeague, the NBA and the Israeli national teams, and it also carries tennis, American sports and other sports, with highlights and live scores.[1]
The output includes statistical journalism on domestic fixtures. Previewing round 4 of the 2026/27 season on 13 September 2026, the service published the Tel Aviv derby's league record as "מאזן הדרבים בליגה: 64 ניצחונות למכבי תל אביב, 47 להפועל תל אביב ועוד 60 תוצאות תיקו" — 64 wins for Maccabi Tel Aviv, 47 for Hapoel Tel Aviv and 60 draws, from 171 league meetings.[3]
The same piece carried further dated detail: that Hapoel Tel Aviv had ended a run of twelve years without a derby win the previous season with a 2-1 comeback, and that the two clubs last met as joint league leaders in April 2003, a match that finished 0-0.[3] Records of that kind are published by the outlet rather than by the competition's own administration, and are reported here as the outlet's.
How large is Walla Sport's audience?
The operator publishes figures about itself and they are not audited measurement. The about page states more than 150 million visits a month, more than 40 million video views a month, more than 2.5 million social media followers and more than 1.5 million Israelis entering the site and application daily.[2] Those are claims by the site about the site.
None of those figures is broken out for the sport service, and no audited measurement of either the portal or its sport subdomain could be retrieved. The site of the Israeli audience measurement committee, ועדת המדרוג, could not be fetched, and traffic estimators are not audited measurement and are not used here in place of one.[1]
One measured figure in the sport service's own field belongs to the competition rather than to the outlet: the Israeli Premier League administration's total attendance of 2,280,759 for the 2025/26 Ligat ha'Al season, against 1,809,420 in 2024/25.[5]
Since when has Walla Sport existed?
The parent portal dates itself to 1995, when its about page says it began operating as Israel's first Israeli website directory; it became a public company in 1999 and was taken into full ownership by Bezeq in April 2012.[2] No separate start date for the sport service could be retrieved, and the portal's date is not the service's.
The ownership dates are firmer and there are two of them. Globes reported on 11 August 2020 that Eli Azur was the frontrunner to buy Walla from Bezeq, at an offer it put at NIS 40-50 million against an original asking price of NIS 180 million in May 2018.[6] Haaretz reported the completed purchase at 65 million shekels on 16 September 2020,[4] and Walla's own about page dates the acquisition by the Jerusalem Post Group to December 2020.[2]
The current editorial appointments are all recent on the same page: chief executive from May 2025, chief editor from January 2025 and vice-president digital from June 2025.[2]
Why does Walla Sport matter in Israel's sport?
It publishes competition records that are otherwise hard to find in one place. The league head-to-head for the Tel Aviv derby — 64 wins, 47 wins and 60 draws in 171 league meetings, as at 13 September 2026 — is the kind of figure a competition administration does not routinely publish, and it appeared on the outlet's own pages.[3]
It reaches a general audience rather than a subscribing one: the sport service sits on a subdomain of a portal whose other verticals are news, finance, health and travel.[1][2]
And it sits inside a group that also holds sports properties. Walla's own about page places it in the Jerusalem Post Group alongside Maariv, Radio 103FM and Sport 1,[2] and Haaretz's account of the purchase records the same buyer as owner of the Charlton sports channels.[4]
References
- וואלה ספורט — sport service of walla.co.il. Accessed 2026-09-20.
- וואלה — אודות (About), ownership, history and self-reported traffic. Accessed 2026-09-20.
- וואלה ספורט — round 4 preview with the Tel Aviv derby league record, 13 September 2026. Accessed 2026-09-20.
- Haaretz — Jerusalem Post owner Eli Azur buys Walla from Bezeq, 16 September 2020. Accessed 2026-09-20.
- ספורט 1 — Ligat ha'Al season attendance, league administration figures, 25 May 2026. Accessed 2026-09-20.
- Globes — Azur frontrunner to buy Walla from Bezeq, 11 August 2020. Accessed 2026-09-20.