TheIsrael national football team (Hebrew:נבחרת ישראל בכדורגל,romanized: Nivḥeret Yīsrāʾēl BeḴaduregel) representsIsrael in men's internationalfootball, and is governed by theIsrael Football Association. They have been members of the European ConfederationUEFA since 1994.
Football has a long tradition inIsrael. The game was originally introduced during the time of theOttoman Empire. The Palestine Football Association was formed in August 1928, and joinedFIFA in June 1929, but at the time the association was made up of Arab and Jewish clubs as well as clubs of British policemen and soldiers serving in the region during the British Mandate. TheMandatory Palestine national football team made its debut againstCairo (Egypt) in1934 FIFA World Cup qualification, losing 0–5 inCairo,Egypt. The team played five international matches, includinga friendly match againstLebanon that Palestine won 1–5; until the British Mandate for Palestine national team was dissolved. During these five games, the national team fielded onlyJewish players. Three anthems were played before each match: theBritish "God Save the King", the Jewish (and futureIsraeli) "HaTikvah", and the opposing team's anthem.[4]
In 1948 the team became the national football team of Israel.[5] The Israel national team's first match as an independent nation was on 26 September 1948, against theUS Olympic Team. The game was won by the US 1–3, and in the 20th minute of the gameShmuel Ben-Dror scored the first goal after the creation of the State of Israel.
Israel was one of the founding members of theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) following its independence in 1948.[6] After the1974 Asian Games inIran, and Israel's 0–1 tense loss to Iran in the finals,[7]Kuwait and otherMuslim andArab countries refused to play them. Following this, Israel was expelled from the confederation. It tried to join continental bodies such as theOFC (Oceania), before eventually joiningUEFA (Europe).[8]
Israel's last years in the AFC
Israel competed at the AFC between 1954 and 1974. Due to theArab League boycott of Israel, severalMuslim countries refused to compete against Israel. The political situation culminated in Israel winning the1958 World Cup qualifying stage for Asia and Africa without playing a single game, forcing FIFA to schedule a playoff between Israel andWales to ensure the team did not qualify without playing at least one game (which Wales won).
In 1969, Israel qualified for its first and onlyFIFA World Cup, via Asia/Oceania. Israel earned two points after a 1–1 draw withSweden, a 0–0 draw with eventual finalistItaly, and a 0–2 loss toUruguay. The goal against Sweden, scored byMordechai Spiegler, is Israel's only FIFA World Cup goal to date.
In 1974, Israel was excluded from AFC competitions, afterKuwait and otherMuslim andArab countries refused to play against it. The proposal was adopted by a vote of 17 to 13 with 6 abstentions.[9][8] The vote coincided with the 1974 Asian Games, where thefootball competition was marred by the refusal of bothNorth Korea[10] andKuwait to play second-round matches against Israel.
In 1976, Israel went to its secondOlympic Games and lost in the quarterfinals again, this time againstBrazil. In1973 and1977, Israel participated in the World Cup qualification tournament which included teams from both Asia and Oceania, but failed to qualify.
In 1991, Israeli clubs began participating in European club competitions ofUEFA, and Israel returned to the European leg of World Cup qualifying in 1992. In 1994, Israel received full UEFA membership, 20 years after it had left Asia. Within Europe, Israel has been a relatively minor nation, though with some successes, notably winning 3–2 in Paris againstFrance in 1993, and 5–0 againstAustria in 1999. That year, Israel made it to theUEFA Euro 2000 qualifying play-offs, but was beaten byDenmark.
Israel came close to advancing to the playoff stage intheir 2006 World Cup qualifying group, finishing third, behind France, and tied on points withSwitzerland, which also remained unbeaten in 10 matches after 4 wins and 6 draws. The Swiss had a better goal difference, though, and advanced to thequalification play-off. CoachAvram Grant announced his resignation on 26 October 2005. After the end of his contract, he was succeeded byDror Kashtan.
InUEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, Israel came very close to qualifying for the final tournament, but finished fourth inGroup E, just one point behind second-placedRussia, who qualified directly withCroatia, and level on 23 points withEngland, who also failed to advance. The 4–3 home loss to Croatia was the first loss after 13 consecutive official games and 9 home games without a loss.
In 2018,Willi Ruttensteiner was appointed as technical director. A national football academy was founded and three supporting development centers were established.[12]
Israel subsequently failed to qualify for any World Cup or European Championship finals, and performed inconsistently during the qualifying phases in which they took part, alternating between the good and the not-so-good. However, in thequalifiers for Euro 2020, they came very close to making history. Despite finishing 5th and penultimate in their particularly homogeneousqualifying group, Israel earned the right to play in theplay-offs thanks to their position in the2018-2019 edition of the Nations League. They first had to play in thesemi-final of the Path C play-off inScotland to earn the right to play in the final of the play-off inSerbia, which defeatedNorway away in extra time. The game was tight, and the Israelis were finally eliminated in a penalty shoot-out after a goalless draw in regulation time and extra time (0–0, 3:5),Eran Zahavi having missed the first Israeli shot.
Promoted toLeague B for the 2020-2021 edition of the Nations League without having finished top of their group in the previous edition, thanks to the change of format subsequently decided by UEFA, Israel ensured their survival by finishing 3rd and penultimate in their group, with a balanced record of 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. At the2022-2023 Nations League, Israel finished top of its 3-team group (Russia, which should have taken part, was excluded from European and international competitions due to itsaggression against Ukraine), thanks to 2 wins overAlbania (2–1 in both legs) and 2 draws againstIceland (2–2 on each occasion), synonymous with promotion toLeague A for the2024-2025 edition.
In theEuro 2024 qualifiers, Israel was again eliminated at the play-off stage, as in the previous edition. Indeed, they finished 3rd in theirqualifying group and saw their place in the play-offs assured thanks to their status as group winners at the 2022-2023 Nations League. Against Iceland in thesemi-finals of the play-offs for Path B, they opened the scoring with Eran Zahavi's 31st-minute penalty, but failed to hold on to their advantage and were soundly beaten (1–4). The turning points of the match wereRoy Revivo's 73rd-minute red card for a crude foul, and Eran Zahavi's penalty miss 7 minutes after the red card, when the score was 1–2.
INJ Withdrew due to injury or illness PRE Preliminary/extended squad RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension due to either a red card, or two accumulated yellow cards WD Player withdrew from the squad due to neither injury nor illness issue U21 Player withdrew from the squad to play for the national under-21 team
As of April 2025[update], Israel ranked 78th in theFIFA Men's World Ranking; its highest ever ranking was 15th and lowest was 99th, with an average ranking of 53rd.[26]
^abcYossi Benayoun also played and scored against Romania B however this was not a full-international match and is therefore not included
^Tal Ben Haim also played against Romania B however this was not a full-international match and is therefore not included
^Tal Banin also played against USSR XI however this was not a full-international match and is therefore not included
^Mordechai Spiegler also played in 25 matches that are not recognised by FIFA, scoring eight additional goals, however they are not full-international matches and are therefore not included
^Nahum Stelmach also played in 19 matches that are not recognised by FIFA, scoring three additional goals, however they are not full-international matches and are therefore not included
^Eli Ohana also played a 1984 Olympic qualification game however this was not a full-international match and is therefore not included
^Yehoshua Feigenbaum also played in 15 matches that are not recognised by FIFA, scoring nine additional goals, however they are not full-international matches and are therefore not included
^"Statistical Kit: Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil"(PDF).FIFA.com. 28 June 2011. p. 53.Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved21 December 2020.A Jewish delegation from Palestine (then a British mandate) played at the qualifying games for 1934 & 1938. It was the first Jewish national team, and as such the forerunner of Israel.
1 Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA 2 Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA 3 Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA 4 Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in OceaniaIsrael entered OFC World Cup qualification in1986 and1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.
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