In the early 1990s, the club was transferred to businessmen Yossi Sassi and Victor Yona. The two ran the team together until falling out, leading to a long business and legal dispute which lasted until 2009, when Yona left the club. During the dispute, a group of supporters, tired of the feuding between the two businessmen, decided to establish a group, first in an attempt to purchase control of the club, and then in a bid to establish a fan-owned club, Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem. The fan-based club was established in 2009 (after a short period of existence as a merged club with Hapoel Mevaseret Zion) and progressed to the Liga Leumit in 2013–14, where the two clubs met for the first time.