Football in Israel

Football is the unofficial national sport of Israel. Football as an organised sport first developed in England who controlled Israel during the days of the British Mandate.

The Israel Football Association

The Israel Football Association (The IFA) is the governing body of football in the State of Israel. All of Israel's professional football clubs must be members, and hundreds of semi-professional and amateur clubs also belong.

League system

Ligat ha'Al

Ligat ha'Al (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×ª ×"×¢×œ) is the highest league in Israeli football and has 12 member clubs. Winning Ligat ha'Al is considered the greatest honour in Israeli football and guarantees a berth in the UEFA Champions League, Europe's elite club competition.

Ligat ha'Al was founded in 1999 as the IFA aimed to realign the leagues to improve competiton. The move from sixteen(16) clubs to twelve(12) was criticized by some football pundits who saw it as damaging the clubs that would be relegated, clubs that had years of history. Each season the bottom two clubs are relegated from Ligat ha'Al and replaced by two from the Liga Leumit.

Liga Leumit

The Liga Leumit (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×" ×œ××•×ž×™×ª) ranks second in the hierarchy of Israeli football after the realignment of the Israeli leagues in 1999. The Liga Leumit has 12 member clubs.

Liga Artzit

The Liga Artzit (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×" ××¨×¦×™×ª) ranks third in the hierarchy of Israeli football after the realignment of the Israeli leagues in 1999. The Liga Artzit has 12 member clubs, the top two of which are promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Leumit and the bottom two clubs are relegated at the end of the season to Liga Aleph.

Liga Aleph

Liga Aleph (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×" × or A league) ranks fourth in the hierarchy of Israeli football after the realignment of the Israeli leagues in 1999. The Liga Aleph consists of two(2) divisions and has twenty-eight(28) member clubs. The divisions are based on the clubs geographical position in the country and are split into a north and south category. The top club from each division is promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Artzit and the bottom two clubs (from each division) are relegated at the end of the season to Liga Beth.

Liga Beth

Liga Beth (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×" ×‘ or B league) ranks fifth in the hierarchy of Israeli football after the realignment of the Israeli leagues in 1999. The Liga Beth consists of four(4) divisions and has sixty-four(64) member clubs. The divisions are based on the clubs geographical position in the country and are split into two(2) north categories and two(2) south categories. The top club from each division is promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Aleph and the bottom two clubs (from each division) are relegated at the end of the season to Liga Gimmel.

Liga Gimmel

Liga Gimmel (Hebrew: ×œ×™×'×" ×' or C league) ranks sixth in the hierarchy of Israeli football after the realignment of the Israeli leagues in 1999. The Liga Beth consists of four(4) divisions and has sixty-four(64) member clubs. The divisions are based on the clubs geographical position in the country and are split into two(2) north categories and two(2) south categories. The top club from each division is promoted at the end of the season to the Liga Beth but the bottom clubs (from each division) are not relegated at the end of the season since this is the lowest league in Israeli football.

History

British Mandate

During the British Mandate of Palestine, organized football was comprised of British and Jewish clubs. As early as 1906, Maccabi Tel-Aviv was formed as a social group. On April 24, 1924 history was made when Hapoel Haifa was formed. Shortly after formation they joined the World Maccabi Organization. The first membership cards read, "Club Hapoel Sport, Cultural Organization Haifa (A member of the World Maccabi Organization). Later during a meeting of Hapoel laborers in Afula, it was decided to break off from the World Maccabi Organization and create the Hapoel (Labor) Organization.

In February of 1928, the first ever derby took place in the British Mandate between Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Alenby Tel-Aviv. Maccabi won 3-0 and was the start to the oldest rivalry that takes place today, in modern day Israel.

When a cup competition was formed, British teams dominated until May 26, 1928 when two Jewish clubs made it to the final in Jerusalem. Hapoel Alenby Tel-Aviv beat Maccabi Hashmonai Jerusalem by a score of two to nil, but the cup was shared since Maccabi alleged to British officials that Hapoel had fielded an ineligible player.

Nine teams started the first league in 1932. The first winner of the league were the British Police who, under the guidance of Police Chief Speiser, were the best organized club in the country. Later he would serve as the first chairman of the football association.

The first international match was a World Cup qualifier between the Eretz Yisrael team and Egypt (earlier, in 1931 a mixed team comprised of Palestinian Jews and British played an international). It was a blowout and the Egyptians won 7-1 in Cairo.

One of the first big tours of the Eretz Yisrael squad was to Australia on the eve of World War II. The team was comprised of players from both Hapoel and Maccabi organizations. Three players eventually ended up staying in Australia, two of those (Avraham Beit Halevi, and Menahem Marimovich) died while serving in the Australian army in attacks against the Japanese.

After Israeli Independence

Just four months after Israel gained indepence, the Israel national football team traveled to New York City to play their American counterparts in a friendly at the Polo Grounds. Over 40,000 spectators (mostly American Jews), witnessed the newly formed Israeli side lose to the Americans 3-1. Shmuel Ben Dror went down in history as the first goal scorer in the history of the Israel national football team.

Cups

* National Cup ×'×‘×™×¢ ×"×ž×"×™× ×"
* Toto Cup ×'×‘×™×¢ ×"×˜×•×˜×•

The National team

Israeli national teams participate at all levels of international football (full, U-21, U-19 etc.) both male and female.

For more information, refer to Israel national football team.

Current Men's National Team Player Pool

* Goalkeepers
** Dudu Aouate (Racing de Santander )
** Ohad Cohen (Maccabi Petach-Tikva )
** Nir Davidovich (Maccabi Haifa )
* Defenders
** Tal Ben Haim (Bolton Wanderers Football Club )
** Tomer Ben Yosef (Beitar Jerusalem )
** Arik Benado (Maccabi Haifa FC )
** Yigal Entebbe (Hapoel Tel-Aviv )
** Ronny Gafney (Beitar Jerusalem )
** Shimon Gershon (Beitar Jerusalem )
** Alon Harazi (Maccabi Haifa FC )
** Adoram Keisi (Maccabi Haifa FC )
** Abed Rabah (Bnei Sakhnin )
** Klemi Saban (Steaua BucureÅŸti )
** Avi Stroul (Maccabi Tel-Aviv )
** Avi Yehiel (Maccabi Tel-Aviv )
* Midfielders
** Omri Afek (Beitar Jerusalem )
** Walid Badir (Hapoel Tel-Aviv )
** Yossi Benayoun (West Ham United Football Club )
** Avi Nimni (Maccabi Tel-Aviv )
** David Revivo (F.C. Ashdod )
** Yossi Shivhon (Hapoel Petah Tikva )
** Abbas Suan (Maccabi Haifa FC )
** Idan Tal (Bolton Wanderers Football Club )
** Michael Zandberg (Beitar Jerusalem )
* Strikers
** Shlomi Arbeitman (Maccabi Haifa FC )
** Pini Balili (Sivasspor KulÃ¼bÃ¼ )
** Moshe Biton (Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv )
** Omer Golan (Maccabi Petah Tikva FC )
** Yaniv Katan (Maccabi Haifa FC )

Football Clubs

Premier League clubs

(sorted according to position in season 2005\2006)
* Maccabi Haifa FC
* Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC
* Maccabi Petach Tikva FC
* Hapoel Kfar Saba
* Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC
* Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv
* M.S. Ashdod
* Hapoel Petah Tikva FC
* Beitar Jerusalem
* Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin FC
* Hapoel Natzrat Illit
* Maccabi Netanya

For a full list of clubs see List of football clubs in Israel.

Famous players

Retired

* Reuven Atar (midfielder, Maccabi Haifa)
* Eyal Berkovic (midfielder, Maccabi Haifa - Southampton - West Ham - Celtic - Portsmouth - Maccabi Tel-Aviv)
* Avi Cohen (defender, Maccabi Tel Aviv - Liverpool)
* Bonny Ginzburg (goalkeeper,Maccabi Tel Aviv-Glasgow Rangers-Maccabi Haifa)
* Ya'akov Hodorov (goalkeeper, Maccabi Rishon)
* Nir Klinger (midfielder, Maccabi Haifa - Maccabi Tel Aviv)
* Oded Machnes (striker, Hapoel Petah Tikva)
* Uri Malmilian (forward, Beitar Jerusalem)
* Baruch Maman (midfielder, Maccabi Haifa)
* Alon Mizrahi (striker, Bnei Yedhuda - Maccabi Haifa - Hapoel Beer-Sheva)
* Eli Ohana (forward, Beitar Jerusalem - FC Mechlen)
* Avi Ran (goalkeeper, Maccabi Haifa) (deceased)
* Haim Revivo (forward, Ashdod - Bney Yehuda - Maccabi Haifa - Celta Vigo - Fenerbahce)
* Ronny Rosenthal (striker, Maccabi Haifa - Liverpool - Tottenham)
* Giora Spiegel (midfielder, Maccabi Tel Aviv)
* Mordechai Spiegler (forward, Maccabi Netanya)
* Moshe Sinai (midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
* Nahum Stelmach (striker, Hapoel Petah Tikva) (deceased)

Active

* Omri Afek (striker, Beitar Jerusalem)
* Walid Badir (midfielder, Hapoel Tel-Aviv)
* Tal Ben Haim (defender, Bolton Wanderers)
* Yossi Benayoun (midfielder, West Ham United)
* Nir Davidovich (goalkeeper, Maccabi Haifa)
* Avi Nimni (midfielder, Maccabi Tel Aviv)
* Idan Tal (midfielder, Bolton Wanderers)

External links

* The Israeli Football Association
* One.co.il - Israeli Sport Portal in Hebrew
* Sport5 - Israeli Sport Television Channel in Hebrew
* BigSoccer.com's Israel Football Forum in English
* Techelet Lavan - Israeli football(soccer) website in Japanese

Football in Israel: Encyclopedia BETA

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