Israel at the AFC Asian Cup

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Main article: Israel national football team § Asian Football Confederation membership
The Israel national team winning the 1964 AFC Asian Cup

Israel competed at the AFC Asian Cup four times. In 1956 and 1960 Israel finished second, in 1964 they finished first, and in 1968 they finished third.[1] In 1972 Israel qualified for the tournament as hosts but later had to withdraw.[2]

See also: Muslim and Arab World boycott, Mediterranean Games boycott, and AFC boycott

Israel was one of the founding members of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) following its own independence in 1948 (prior to that it played under the banner of the "British Mandate of Palestine").[3] After the 1974 Asian Games in Iran, and Israel's 0–1 tense loss to Iran in the finals,[4] Kuwait and other Muslim and Arab countries refused to play them. Following this, Israel were expelled from the confederation and spent a few years trying to qualify from such continental bodies as the OFC (Oceania), before eventually joining UEFA (Europe) officially.[5]

Record[edit]

AFC Asian Cup record
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Hong Kong 1956 Runners-up 2nd 3 2 0 1 6 5
South Korea 1960 Runners-up 2nd 3 2 0 1 6 4
Israel 1964 Champions 1st 3 3 0 0 5 1
Iran 1968 Third Place 3rd 4 2 0 2 11 5
Thailand 1972 Withdrew
Total Champions 4/15 13 9 0 4 28 15
Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

1956 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

Israel competed at the 1956 AFC Asian Cup. This was the first AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s first appearance.[6]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 South Korea 3 2 1 0 9 6 +3 5
 Israel 3 2 0 1 6 5 +1 4
 Hong Kong 3 0 2 1 6 7 −1 2
 South Vietnam 3 0 1 2 6 9 −3 1
Matches
Hong Kong 2 – 3 Israel
Au Chi Yin 12', 66' Glazer 37', 76'
Stelmach 69'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: H.A. Sheppard (England)
Israel 1 – 2 South Korea
Stelmach 71' Woo Sang-kwon 52'
Sung Nak-woon 64'
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Trương Văn Ky (South Vietnam)
Israel 2 – 1 South Vietnam
Stelmach 14', 27' Trần Văn Tổng 58'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: Tommy Tucker (England)
Goalscorers

With four goals, Nahum Stelmach is the top scorer in the tournament.

4 goals
2 goals
Squad

Head coach: England Jackie Gibbons

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Ya'akov Hodorov (1927-06-16)16 June 1927 (aged 29) 12 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
1GK Ya'akov Vissoker (1930-09-05)5 September 1930 (aged 25) 0 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF David Kremer (1929-04-06)6 April 1929 (aged 27) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF Shaul Matania (1937-03-08)8 March 1937 (aged 19) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Jerry Haldi (1935-08-14)14 August 1935 (aged 21) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
3MF Binyamin Rabinovich 1936 (aged 20) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Itzhak Schneor (1925-12-11)11 December 1925 (aged 30) 11 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Asher Balut (1932-01-06)6 January 1932 (aged 24) 5 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Zigi Silberstein 0 0 Israel Maccabi Petah Tikva
4FW Yehoshua Glazer (1927-12-29)29 December 1927 (aged 28) 11 8 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Yosef Mirmovich (1924-07-24)24 July 1924 (aged 32) 11 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Nahum Stelmach (1936-07-19)19 July 1936 (aged 20) 2 1 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
4FW Boaz Kofman (1935-03-29)29 March 1935 (aged 21) 1 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
4FW Rehavia Rozenboim (1934-04-29)29 April 1934 (aged 22) 5 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
4FW Shmuel Israeli (1928-10-15)15 October 1928 (aged 27) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Eliezer Spiegel (1922-06-20)20 June 1922 (aged 34) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Petah Tikva

1960 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

Israel competed at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup. This was the second AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s second appearance.[6]

Qualification – Western Zone[edit]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Israel 6 3 2 1 10 8 +2 8
 Iran 6 3 1 2 12 10 +2 7
 Pakistan 6 2 1 3 8 10 –2 5
 India 6 2 0 4 7 9 –2 4
Matches
Israel 0 – 3 Iran
Hajari 49'
Barmaki 59'
Dehdari 65'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: P. Chakravarthy (India)
India 1 – 3 Israel
Devadas 60' R. Levi 35', 43', 53'
Attendance: 30,000
Israel 2 – 0 Pakistan
R. Levi 55'
Stelmach 65'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: P. Chakravarthy (India)
Israel 1 – 1 Iran
Menchel 9' Hajari 49'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: P. Chakravarthy (India)
India 1 – 2 Israel
Rehmatullah 19' Stelmach 11'
R. Levi 75'
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Natarajan (Malaya)
Pakistan 2 – 2 Israel
Omar 49'
Ghafoor 57'		 Menchel 60'
Ratzabi 68'
Attendance: 15,000
Referee: A. N. Jayaraman (India)

Tournament results[edit]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 South Korea 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 6
 Israel 3 2 0 1 6 4 +2 4
 Republic of China 3 1 0 2 2 2 0 2
 South Vietnam 3 0 0 3 2 12 −10 0
Matches
South Korea 3 – 0 Israel
Cho Yoon-Ok 17', 60'
Woo Sang-Kwon 30'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Yozo Yokoyama (Japan)
South Vietnam 1 – 5 Israel
Trần Văn Nhung 68' (pen.) R. Levi 13'
Stelmach 18'
S. Levi 25'
Menchel 32'
Aharonskind 70'
Attendance: 15,000
Israel 1 – 0 Republic of China
S. Levi 72'
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Yozo Yokoyama (Japan)

Goal scorers[edit]

2 goals
1 goal

Squad[edit]

Squad

Head coach: Hungary Gyula Mándi

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Ya'akov Hodorov (1927-06-16)16 June 1927 (aged 33) 23 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
1GK Ya'akov Vissoker (1930-09-05)5 September 1930 (aged 30) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF Amatzia Levkovich (1937-12-27)27 December 1937 (aged 22) 14 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
2DF Dov Atzmon 0 0 Israel Hapoel Jerusalem
2DF Mordechai Benbenishti (1938-03-01)1 March 1938 (aged 22) 3 0 Israel Hapoel Jerusalem
2DF Zvi Moisescu (1939-08-13)13 August 1939 (aged 21) 3 0 Israel Maccabi Netanya
3MF Avraham Klemi 0 0 Israel Maccabi Jaffa
3MF Avraham Menchel (1935-12-12)12 December 1935 (aged 24) 13 4 Israel Maccabi Haifa
3MF Gideon Tish (1939-10-13)13 October 1939 (aged 21) 16 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Yosef Goldstein (1932-03-29)29 March 1932 (aged 28) 20 1 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Aharon Amar 1937 (aged 23) 8 0 Israel Maccabi Haifa
4FW Amnon Aronskind 0 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Nahum Stelmach (1936-07-19)19 July 1936 (aged 24) 23 13 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
4FW Rafi Levi (1938-02-22)22 February 1938 (aged 22) 14 10 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Shlomo Levi (1934-06-01)1 June 1934 (aged 26) 0 0 Israel Hapoel Haifa
4FW Shlomo Nahari (1934-10-17)17 October 1934 (aged 25) 8 1 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
4FW Yehoshua Glazer (1927-12-29)29 December 1927 (aged 32) 32 15 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv

1964 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

Israel competed at the 1964 AFC Asian Cup. This was the third AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s third appearance.[6]

Host nation[edit]

The tournament used a round-robin system with the winners from the West, Central 1 and 2 and East Asia zones and the team from the host nation (Israel) competing for the title. 11 of the 16 nations withdrew including Iran and Japan with the result that only one zone (combined Central 1 and 2) played any qualifying matches and the 'winners' of 2 zones and host Israel qualified uncontested. In this diminished competition Israel won the title with three wins.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Venues[edit]

Ramat Gan Haifa
Tel Aviv Jerusalem
Ramat Gan Stadium Kiryat Eliezer Stadium Bloomfield Stadium Hebrew University Stadium
Capacity: 41,583 Capacity: 17,000 Capacity: 22,000 Capacity: 16,000

Qualification[edit]

Israel as the host nation automatically qualified for the tournament.[14]

Tournament results[edit]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Israel 3 3 0 0 5 1 +4 6
 India 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 4
 South Korea 3 1 0 2 2 4 −2 2
 Hong Kong 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0
Matches
Israel 1 – 0 Hong Kong
Spiegler 76'
Attendance: 25,000
Israel 2 – 0 India
Spiegler 29' (pen.)
Aharoni 76'
Attendance: 20,000
South Korea 1 – 2 Israel
Lee Soon-Myung 79' Leon 20'
Tish 38'
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Davoud Nassiri (Iran)

Goal scorers[edit]

2 goals
1 goal

Squad[edit]

Squad

Head coach: Israel Yosef Merimovich

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Haim Levin (1937-03-03)3 March 1937 (aged 27) 1 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
1GK Itzhak Vissoker (1944-09-18)18 September 1944 (aged 19) 4 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF Avraham Kalmi 1 0 Israel Maccabi Jaffa
2DF David Primo (1946-05-05)5 May 1946 (aged 18) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
2DF Haim Bahar (1943-04-10)10 April 1943 (aged 21) 0 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF Moshe Leon (1944-01-09)9 January 1944 (aged 20) 7 0 Israel Maccabi Jaffa
2DF Shaul Matania (1937-03-08)8 March 1937 (aged 19) 17 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Amatzia Levkovich (1937-12-27)27 December 1937 (aged 18) 36 1 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Gideon Tish (1939-10-13)13 October 1939 (aged 16) 34 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Mordechai Spiegler (1944-08-19)19 August 1944 (aged 19) 4 1 Israel Maccabi Netanya
3MF Nahum Stelmach (1936-07-19)19 July 1936 (aged 27) 45 20 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
3MF Yehezkel Katsav 1945 (aged 19) 0 0 Israel Maccabi Jaffa
3MF Yosef Mahalal (1939-12-25)25 December 1939 (aged 24) 4 2 Israel Bnei Yehuda
4FW Einstein Kalish 1939 (aged 25) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Jaffa
4FW Rahamim Talbi (1943-05-17)17 May 1943 (aged 21) 0 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Roby Young (1942-05-15)15 May 1942 (aged 22) 13 2 Israel Hapoel Haifa
4FW Shlomo Levi (1934-06-01)1 June 1934 (aged 29) 11 6 Israel Hapoel Ramat Gan
4FW Yohai Aharoni (1943-06-08)8 June 1943 (aged 20) 0 0 Israel Hapoel Mahane Yehuda

1968 AFC Asian Cup[edit]

Israel competed at the 1968 AFC Asian Cup. This was the fourth AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s fourth and last appearance.[6]

After the 1968 tournament Israel did not compete in a regional football tournament for many years. Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s and eventually became a member of UEFA.[15] After joining the UEFA Israel began competing in the UEFA European Championship in 1996.

Qualification – West Zone 1[edit]

Israel qualified for the tournament by default after all other teams in their zone withdrew from the tournament.[16]

Tournament results[edit]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Iran 4 4 0 0 11 2 +9 8
 Burma 4 2 1 1 5 4 +1 5
 Israel 4 2 0 2 11 5 +6 4
 Republic of China 4 0 2 2 3 10 −7 2
 Hong Kong 4 0 1 3 2 11 −9 1
Matches
Hong Kong 1–6 Israel
Yuan Kuan Yick 76' Spiegler 9', 53'
Spiegel 52', 65'
Romano 61', 71'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Batha Chaterchi (India)
Burma 1–0 Israel
Suk Bahadur 42'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Norman Boswell (Malaysia)
Israel 4–1 Republic of China
Romano 2', 60'
Rosenthal 70'
Spiegel 76'		 Li Huan-wen 45+1'
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Narayan Ghosh (India)
Iran 2–1 Israel
Behzadi 75'
Ghelichkhani 86'		 Spiegel 56'
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Alex Joseph Vaz (India)

Goal scorers[edit]

With 4 goals, Giora Spiegel and Moshe Romano of Israel tied with Homayoun Behzadi of Iran as the top scorers of the tournament.

4 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Squad[edit]

Squad

Head coach: Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Milovan Ćirić

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Itzhak Vissoker (1944-09-18)18 September 1944 (aged 23) 14 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
1GK Haim Levin (1937-03-03)3 March 1937 (aged 27) 15 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
2DF Menahem Bello (1947-12-26)26 December 1947 (aged 20) 14 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
2DF Dani Shmulevich (1940-11-29)29 November 1940 (aged 27) 23 0 Israel Maccabi Haifa
2DF Itzhak Marili (1945-05-12)12 May 1945 (aged 22) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Jerusalem
2DF David Karako (1944-02-11)11 February 1944 (aged 24) 3 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
2DF Itzhak Drucker (1947-06-03)3 June 1947 (aged 20) 6 0 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
2DF Zvi Rosen (1947-06-23)23 June 1947 (aged 20) 2 0 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Dani Borsuk (1944-02-16)16 February 1944 (aged 24) 6 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Haim Nurieli (1943-05-01)1 May 1943 (aged 25) 2 0 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF Moshe Asis (1943-10-09)9 October 1943 (aged 24) 13 1 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF Shmuel Rosenthal (1947-04-22)22 April 1947 (aged 21) 14 1 Israel Hapoel Petah Tikva
4FW George Borba (1944-07-12)12 July 1944 (aged 23) 9 4 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
4FW Giora Spiegel (1947-07-27)27 July 1947 (aged 20) 10 5 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Mordechai Spiegler (1944-08-19)19 August 1944 (aged 23) 27 13 Israel Maccabi Netanya
4FW Moshe Romano (1946-05-06)6 May 1946 (aged 22) 5 1 Israel Shimshon Tel Aviv
4FW Rahamim Talbi (1943-05-17)17 May 1943 (aged 24) 18 5 Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW Roby Young (1942-05-15)15 May 1942 (aged 25) 37 5 Israel Hapoel Haifa

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Asian Nations Cup
  2. ^ "Malaysia, Singapore stay in Asian Cup central zone". The Straits Times. 16 August 1970.
  3. ^ "Site-Map-Israel-Football-Facts—Stats". Archived from the original on 6 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Bayati recalls Iran's tense win over Israel". Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  5. ^ Montague, James (27 February 2008). "Time is right for Israel to return to its Asian roots". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d Asian Cup: Know Your History – Part One (1956-1988)
  7. ^ Smith, Matt (4 June 2014). "Amnesia, not admiration for Israel's 1964 heroes | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  8. ^ Dann, Uzi (22 January 2015). "Israel erased from Asian Cup history video - World - Israel News". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  9. ^ Michael Safi (22 January 2015). "Israel omitted from Asian Cup video history | Football". The Guardian. Theguardian.com. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  10. ^ "Israel wiped from AFC history | The Australian Jewish News". Jewishnews.net.au. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  11. ^ Dominic Bossi (30 January 2015). "Winners and losers of the 2015 Asian Cup". Smh.com.au. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  12. ^ "Football: Israel's forgottten heroes who brought Asian Cup in 1964 - The Economic Times". Economictimes.indiatimes.com. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  13. ^ "Asian Eye - Indian football still finding its feet :: Total Football Magazine - Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, Non-League News". Totalfootballmag.com. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  14. ^ Asian Nations Cup 1964
  15. ^ "About the IFA". The Israel Football Association. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  16. ^ Asian Nations Cup 1968
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