Israel national football team
Encyclopedia : I : IS : ISR : Israel national football team
The Israel National Football Team has participated in four different continents: Asia, Africa, South America and Oceania in the Football World Cup qualifiers, before settling in Europe as a member of UEFA. The Israel Football Association (IFA) was founded under the name Palestine Football Association in 1928, 20 years before the creation of the state of Israel. PFA was accepted as a full member of FIFA in 1929. PFA first dealt with local leagues, but later also managed the national team that was created to participate in the World Cup qualifications (participated in 1934 and 1938 as Palestine/Eretz Yisrael national team).
The Israeli side has only appeared in one World Cup (1970).
History
Before Independence
Palestine played its first official game in 1934 in the world cup qualifiers losing 1-7 to Egypt. The team's first goal ever was scored by Avraham Nudelmann. Upon creation of the State of Israel in 1948, IFA became the official association of the new state. The Israel national team's first game as an independent state was on September 26, 1948, against the USA (result: 1-3 to the USA).Asian History
In 1964 Israel hosted the Asian Nations Cup and won 2-1 against South Korea. In 1968 Israel went to their first Olympic Games and lost to Bulgaria in the quarter-finals. In 1970 Israel qualified for their first and only World Cup, but only got two points after draws with Sweden and finalist Italy and a loss to Uruguay. In 1976, Israel went to their second Olympic Games and lost in the quarter-finals again, this time against Brazil. In 1989, Israel made it to the playoffs of WC Italy 1990 from the top of the Oceania group, to play against Colombia who qualified from the South American group, but lost (1-0, 0-0). In 2000, Israel made it to the playoffs of Euro 2000, but was beaten by Denmark.European History
In 2006 World Cup qualifying, Israel finished third in European zone Group Four behind France and Switzerland despite being unbeaten in their 10 matches after four wins and six draws, and failed to qualify for the finals. Coach Avraham Grant announced his resignation on 26 October 2005. After the end of his contract he was succeeded by Dror Kashtan.World Cup record
- 1930 - Did not enter
- 1934 to 1938 - Did not qualify (as Palestine)
- 1950 to 1966 - Did not qualify
- 1970 - Round 1
- 1974 to 2006 - Did not qualify
Asian Nations Cup record
- 1956 - Second place
- 1960 - Second place
- 1964 - Champions
- 1968 - Third place
- 1972 onwards - Did not enter, no longer member of AFC
European Championship record
Current squad
- Goalkeepers
| Name | Age | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudu Awat | 29 | Racing de Santander | 18 (0) | v Spain, October 10 1999 |
| Nir Davidovich | 30 | Maccabi Haifa | 39 (0) | v Turkey, February 18 1998 |
| Liran Strauber | 31 | Maccabi Netanya | 6 (0) | v Denmark, April 17 2002 |
- Defenders
| Name | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Adoram Keisi | Maccabi Haifa | 52 (4) | v Georgia, February 23 1994 |
| Arik Benado | Maccabi Haifa | 88 (0) | v Brazil, May 17 1995 |
| Klemi Saban | Steaua Bucureşti | 10 (0) | v France, September 4 2004 |
| Shimon Gershon | Beitar Jerusalem | 36 (2) | v Estonia, January 18 1999 |
| Tal Ben Haim | Bolton Wanderers | 24 (0) | v Germany, February 13 2002 |
| Avi Yehiel | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3 (1) | v republic of Ireland, June 4 2005 |
| Tomer Ben-Yosef | Beitar Jerusalem | 7 (0) | v Azerbaijan, February 18 2004 |
| Tal Hen | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 0 (0) | v n/a |
| Alon Harazi | Maccabi Haifa | 88 (1) | v Poland, September 9 1992 |
| Avi Strul | Maccabi Netanya | 1 (0) | v Luxembourg, September 5 2002 |
| Ronny Gafney | Beitar Jerusalem | 1 (0) | v Denmark, March 1 2006 |
- Midfielders
| Name | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Yossi Benayoun | West Ham United | 48 (11) | v Portugal, November 18 1998 |
| Avi Nimni | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 80 (17) | v USSR, February 12 1992 |
| Idan Tal | Bolton Wanderers | 58 (4) | v Turkey, February 18 1998 |
| Michael Zandberg | Beitar Jerusalem | 14 (4) | v Lithuania, August 21 2002 |
| Walid Badir | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 61 (11) | v Belarus, August 5 1997 |
| Abbas Suan | Maccabi Haifa | 11 (1) | v Azerbaijan, February 18 2004 |
| Salim Tuama | Maccabi Petach Tikva | 2 (0) | v Ukraine, August 15 2005 |
| Omri Afek | Beitar Jerusalem | 22 (4) | v Lithuania, August 21 2002 |
| David Revivo | FC Ashdod | 3 (0) | v Cyprus, November 17 2004 |
| Yossi Shivkhon | Hapoel Petach Tikva | 1 (0) | v Poland, August 17 2005 |
- Strikers
| Name | Club | Caps (goals) | Debut
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Yaniv Katan | Maccabi Haifa | 23 (5) | v Hungary, June 3 2000 |
| Pini Balili | Sivasspor | 24 (7) | v Hungary, June 3 2000 |
| Omer Golan | Maccbi Petach Tikva | 14 (1) | v Moldova, April 28 2004 |
| Moshe Biton | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 3 (0) | v Ukrain, August 15 2005 |
| Shlomi Arbeitman | Maccabi Haifa | 3 (3) | v Azerbaijan, February 18 2004
|
Famous players
- Tal Ben Haim
- Yossi Benayoun
- Eyal Berkovic
- Avi Cohen
- Gideon Damti
- Shiye Glazer
- Yehosua (Shiye) Feigenbaum
- Yaakov Hodorov
- Uri Malmilian
- Alon Mizrahi
- Eli Ohana
- Avi Ran
- Haim Revivo
- Ronny Rosenthal
- Giora Speigel
- Mordechai Spiegler
- Nahum Stelmach
- Yitzhak Shum
- Yitzhak Visoker
- Bonni Ginzburg
Most capped players
- Arik Benado: 89
- Alon Harazi: 89
- Amir Shelah: 85
- Nir Klinger: 83
- Bonni Ginzburg:80
Top scorers
1. Mordechai Spiegler: 322. Yehosua (Shiye) Feigenbaum: 24
3. Ronen Harazi: 23
4. Nahum Stelmach: 22
5. Gideon Damti: 21
6. Shiye Glazer: 18
-. Giora Spiegel: 18
8. Alon Mizrahi: 17
-. Eli Ohana: 17
External links
|- !style="background:#BFD7FF;"|
|- style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;" | FIFA | World Cup | Confederations Cup | World Rankings | Player of the Year | Teams
|- style="text-align:left; font-size:90%;" |
- Asia: AFC – Asian Cup
- Africa: CAF – African Cup of Nations
- North America: CONCACAF – Gold Cup
- South America: CONMEBOL – Copa América
- Oceania: OFC – Nations Cup
- Europe: UEFA – European Championship
|- !style="background:#BFD7FF;"|
|- style="text-align:center;" | Albania | Andorra | Armenia | Austria | Azerbaijan | Belarus | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Croatia | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark | England | Estonia | Faroe Islands | Finland | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Republic of Ireland | Israel | Italy | Kazakhstan | Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg | Republic of Macedonia | Malta | Moldova | Montenegro | Netherlands | Northern Ireland | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia | San Marino | Scotland | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | Ukraine | Wales |- style="text-align:center; font-size:90%;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.