Israel national football team

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Israel

Nickname

Holy XI
Hebrew Iron Fists

Association

Israel Football Association

Head coach

Dror Kashtan (2006-)

Captain

Yossi Benayoun

Most caps

Alon Harazi (90)

Top scorer

Mordechai Spiegler (32)

FIFA code

ISR

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

22 (June 1999)

Lowest FIFA ranking

71 (September 1993)

Elo ranking

Highest Elo ranking

23 (1976)

Lowest Elo ranking

73 (Feb 1968)





Home kit





Away kit

First international

Egypt 7 - 1 Palestine/Eretz Yisrael
(Cairo, Egypt; March 16, 1934)

USA 3 - 1 Israel

(New York City, USA; September 26, 1948)

Largest win

Israel 9 - 0 Taiwan

(Wellington, New Zealand; March 23, 1988)

Worst defeat

Egypt 7 - 1 Palestine/Eretz Yisrael
(Cairo, Egypt; March 16, 1934)

Germany 7 - 1 Israel

(Kaiserslautern, Germany; February 13, 2002)

World Cup

Appearances

1 (First in 1970)

Best result

Round 1, 1970

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 during the Mandate for Palestine. 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).

1 History
2 World Cup record
3 Asian Nations Cup record
4 European Championship record
5 Euro 2008 Qualification and Dror Kashtan becomes coach
6 Current squad
7 Famous players
8 Most capped players
9 Top scorers
10 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] 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

[edit] European Championship record

1960 to 1992 - Did not enter, was not a full UEFA member until 1994
1996 to 2004 - Did not qualify

[edit] Euro 2008 Qualification and Dror Kashtan becomes coach

Following Israel's close failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, Dror Kashtan became national team manager. His first game in charge was a friendly draw away to Slovenia.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	Israel scorers	Match Report
15 August 2006	Petrol Arena Stadium (A)	Slovenia	1-1	F	Yossi Benayoun
2 September 2006	A Le Coq Arena (A)	Estonia	1-0	ECQ	Roberto Colautti	UEFA
6 September 2006	De Goffert, Nijmegen, Netherlands (H)	Andorra	4-1	ECQ	Yossi Benayoun, Amit Ben-Shushan, Shimon Gershon, Toto Tammuz	UEFA
7 October 2006	Lokomotiv (A)	Russia	1-1	ECQ	Amit Ben-Shushan	UEFA
15 November 2006	Ramat Gan (H)	Croatia	3-4	ECQ	Roberto Colautti (2), Yossi Benayoun
24 March 2007	(H)	England		ECQ
28 March 2007	(H)	Estonia		ECQ
2 June 2007	(A)	FYR Macedonia		ECQ
6 June 2007	(A)	Andorra		ECQ
8 September 2007	(A)	England		ECQ
17 October 2007	(A)	Croatia		ECQ
17 November 2007	(H)	Russia		ECQ
21 November 2007	(H)	FYR Macedonia		ECQ

Key

H = Home match
A = Away match
F = Friendly
ECQ = European Championship Qualifier

[edit] Current squad

Not all players caps and goals are right

Goalkeepers

Name	Age	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Dudu Aouate	29	Deportivo La Coruna	19 (0)	v Spain, October 10, 1999
Nir Davidovich	30	Maccabi Haifa	39 (0)	v Turkey, February 18, 1998

Defenders

Name	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Shimon Gershon	Beitar Jerusalem	36 (2)	v Estonia, January 18, 1999
Adoram Keisi	Maccabi Haifa	51 (4)	v Georgia, February 23rd, 1994
Tal Ben Haim	Bolton Wanderers	24 (0)	v Germany, February 13, 2002
Tomer Ben-Yosef	Beitar Jerusalem	7 (0)	v Azerbaijan, February 18, 2004
Ronny Gafney	Beitar Jerusalem	1 (0)	v Denmark, March 1, 2006
Yoav Ziv	Beitar Jerusalem	3 (0)	v Slovenia, August 15, 2006
Omri Afek	Beitar Jerusalem	22 (4)	v Lithuania, August 21, 2002
Klemi Saban	Steaua Bucureşti	10 (0)	v France, September 4, 2004

Midfielders

Name	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Yossi Benayoun	West Ham United	50 (13)	v Portugal, November 18, 1998
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
Salim Tuama	Hapoel Tel Aviv	2 (0)	v Ukraine, August 15, 2005
Yossi Shivhon	Maccabi Tel Aviv	1 (0)	v Poland, August 17, 2005
Gal Alberman	Beitar Jerusalem	4 (0)	v Slovenia, August 15, 2006
Aviram Bruchyan	Beitar Jerusalem	Unknown	-

Strikers

Name	Club	Caps (goals)	Debut
Yaniv Katan	Maccabi Haifa	23 (5)	v Hungary, June 3, 2000
Roberto Colautti	Maccabi Haifa	3 (1)	v Estonia, September 2, 2006
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	5 (3)	v Azerbaijan, February 18, 2004
Amit Ben-Shushan	Beitar Jerusalem	4 (2)	v Estonia, September 2, 2006
Toto Tammuz	Beitar Jerusalem	2 (1)	v Andorra, September 6, 2006

[edit] Famous players

Tal Ben Haim
Yossi Benayoun
Eyal Berkovic
Avi Cohen
Gideon Damti
Shiye Glazer
Yehosua (Shiye) Feigenbaum
Yossi Abukasis
Yaakov Hodorov
Uri Malmilian
Alon Mizrahi
Eli Ohana
Avi Ran
Haim Revivo
Ronny Rosenthal
Dudu Awat
Giora Speigel
Mordechai Spiegler
Nahum Stelmach
Yitzhak Shum
Yitzhak Visoker
Bonni Ginzburg

[edit] Most capped players

Arik Benado: 89
Alon Harazi: 89
Amir Shelah: 85
Nir Klinger: 83
Eyal Berkovic : 82
Bonni Ginzburg:80

[edit] Top scorers

1. Mordechai Spiegler: 32
2. 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