Israeli national soccer team / world championships

State of Israel
מדינת ישראל Medinat Jisra'el (Hebrew)
دولة إسرائيلDaulat Isrāʾīl (arab.)

World Cup record goalscorer:	Mordechai Spiegler (1)
World Cup record players:	10 players (3 each)
Rank :	64
Balance sheet
3 World Cup games 0 wins 2 draws 1 loss 1: 3 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Israel 0-2 Uruguay Puebla ( MEX ); 2nd June 1970
Biggest World Cup defeat Israel 0-2 Uruguay Puebla ( MEX ); 2nd June 1970
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 1970 )
Best results	Preliminary round 1970
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: After qualifying for the 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the Israeli national soccer team at world championships . If you include the participation of the Palestine team , which the Israeli federation counts for itself, Israel, like Ireland and Luxembourg, took part in all World Cup qualifications, but could only qualify once.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not existent				The state of Israel does not yet exist. The British Protectorate of Palestine , which included parts of what is now Israel, does not participate.
1934	Italy	not existent				Palestine fails to qualify against Egypt
1938	France	not existent				Palestine fails to qualify to Greece , which, however, also failed to qualify
1950	Brazil	not qualified				Yugoslavia failed in the first qualifying round
1954	Switzerland	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1958	Sweden	not qualified				In the qualification of Wales failed, which were determined as a replacement opponent, as other countries did not want to compete against Israel (Wales' only World Cup appearance)
1962	Chile	not qualified				In the qualification in the play-off round "Europe / Middle East" failed to Italy
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualification of Bulgaria failed
1970	Mexico	Preliminary round	Uruguay , Sweden , Italy	12.	Emanuel Schaffer	Israel is eliminated as the bottom of the group, but reaches two draws against the two European teams.
1974	BR Germany	not qualified				In the qualification to South Korea failed, the could but also not qualify
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification again failed to South Korea , which could also not qualify again
1982	Spain	not qualified				In the qualification of Scotland and Northern Ireland failed
1986	Mexico	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Australia , which could not qualify either
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the intercontinental playoff against Colombia failed
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification of Sweden and Bulgaria failed, which then collided at the World Cup in the game for third place.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Bulgaria and Russia failed, which failed in the play-offs also
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain and Austria failed, which failed in the play-offs also
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of France and Switzerland failed.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In qualifying at the Switzerland and Greece failed.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification of Russia and Portugal failed.
2018	Russia	not qualified				The two ex-world champions Spain and Italy failed in qualifying
2022	Qatar

World Cup tournaments

1930 to 1938

The Palestine / Eretz Israel team before the World Cup qualifier in Egypt

The Palestinian Football Association, an association of Jewish, Arab and British teams in Palestine , was founded in 1928 and accepted into FIFA in 1929, but it did not take part in the first World Cup in Uruguay. In 1934 and 1938 the team took part in the qualifications for the World Cup under the name Palestine / Eretz Israel. In 1934, besides Egypt , Turkey was also intended as an enemy, but this waived. On March 16, 1934, the first World Cup qualifier took place in Cairo . In the 1: 7 defeat of the team, which was exclusively occupied by Jews, Avraham Nudelmann scored the goal for the meanwhile 1: 6. In the second leg, the team did not get more than 1-1, Egypt qualified for the World Cup for the first time, which the Egyptians only succeeded in 1990. Four years later, the team failed in the first qualifying round to Greece, which then failed to Hungary.

1950 in Brazil

After Israel gained independence, the Israel Football Association took part in qualifying for the first World Cup in Brazil, but failed in the first round to Yugoslavia .

1954 in Switzerland

In qualifying for the World Cup in Switzerland, Israel had to play against Yugoslavia and Greece again , but lost all four games, albeit three times just 0: 1.

1958 in Sweden

In qualifying for the World Cup in Sweden, Israel should first play against Turkey, but they did not play. The Middle East conflict overshadowed the final round: Sudan and Egypt refused to play against Israel and Indonesia only wanted to play on neutral ground, which FIFA refused. This would qualify Israel, but since FIFA did not want to allow a team to participate without a qualifying game, Israel was drawn from the runners-up of all other groups (Belgium and Uruguay waived), an opponent in Wales . Wales then won both games against Israel 2-0 and qualified for the only time to date for the World Cup finals, in which the three other British national teams England , Northern Ireland and Scotland participated.

1962 in Chile

In qualifying for the World Cup in Chile, Israel first had to play against Cyprus and after a 1-1 draw in Nicosia they achieved their first victory in a World Cup qualifier with a 6-1 win in the second leg, with Shlomo Levi scoring three goals alone. In the next round, Ethiopia was eliminated with two wins (1: 0 and 3: 2) before the Israelis were defeated by Italy in the play-off round "Europe / Middle East" . The 2: 4 at home was followed by 0: 6 in the second leg.

1966 in England

For the qualification for the World Cup in England a European group with Bulgaria and Belgium “drawn”. The Israelis lost all four games. Belgians and Bulgarians who had won their home games against each other had to determine the World Cup participant in a play-off that the Bulgarians won.

1970 in Mexico

→ Main article : Football World Cup 1970 / Israel

To qualify for the first World Cup in Mexico , Israel should first play against New Zealand and North Korea in a tournament in Israel . North Korea refused to play in Israel and was therefore disqualified. It only took two games against the New Zealanders to reach the second round. With two wins (4: 0 and 2: 0) this was easy. In the final of the Asia / Oceania zone, Australia was the opponent. After a 1-0 win in Ramat Gan , a 1-1 draw in Sydney was enough to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.

In Mexico, the Israelis met ex-world champions Uruguay in their first World Cup game and lost 2-0. Against Sweden they scored 1-1 in the second group match, with Mordechai Spiegler equalizing the Swedish lead two minutes later with the first and so far only World Cup goal for Israel. Against European champions Italy , they achieved another respectable success with the 0-0 win in the last group game. Nevertheless, Israel left the group last and said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 48 years.

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Germany, Israel first had to play a group assignment match against Japan at a tournament in Seoul and won 2-1. In the following group games they won two wins against Malaysia and Thailand (3-0 and 6-0) as well as a goalless draw against South Korea . Israel was in the semi-finals, in which Japan was again the opponent. The final against South Korea was reached with a 1-0 after extra time. Here Israel failed with 0: 1 n.V. South Korea could then also not qualify for the World Cup in the games against Australia.

1978 in Argentina

Because of the Middle East conflict, Israel was excluded from the Asian Football Association in 1974 and only East Asian teams were still willing to play against Israel.

In qualifying for the World Cup in Argentina, Israel also played in the East Asian group for political reasons. Israel won both games against Japan, but only reached a 0-0 home game against South Korea and lost 3-1 in Seoul . South Korea then failed in the final round because of Iran, which qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

1982 in Spain

In qualifying for the World Cup in Spain, Israel was allowed to start in a European group with Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Portugal. With only one win (4-1 against Portugal, which meant that the Portuguese missed the qualification) and three draws, but four defeats, only the last group place was occupied.

1986 in Mexico

Israel could not qualify for the second World Cup in Mexico . Again, like Taiwan, Israel was assigned to the Oceania group with Australia and New Zealand for political reasons . Equal on points with New Zealand, but with the better goal difference, they only finished second behind Australia. The Australians then failed in the intercontinental playoff games against Scotland .

1990 in Italy

For the second World Cup in Italy , Israel had to compete in the Oceania group for the last time and received a bye in the first round. In the second round only Australia and New Zealand were the opponents and Israel prevailed as group winners. However, Israel then had to play against Colombia in the intercontinental playoff games . After a 0: 1 in Colombia, the 0: 0 at home was not enough to qualify for the World Cup.

1994 in the United States

After the collapse of the Eastern bloc , which had previously prevented admission to UEFA , the Israelis were able to join UEFA in 1991 and have since played for World Cup qualifiers in European groups.

To qualify for the World Cup in the USA , they were drawn into a group of six along with Bulgaria , Sweden , France , Austria and Finland . Israel managed a surprising 3-2 in France, which meant that the French missed the World Cup, but more victories were not possible. That put Israel in last place in the end.

1998 in France

The qualification for the second World Cup in France went a little better . In a group with again Bulgaria, Russia , Cyprus and Luxembourg the third place was taken and at the beginning of the group winners Bulgaria defeated with 2-1.

2002 in Japan / South Korea

Four years later, in qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia in the group with Spain , Austria , which failed in the playoffs of the group runners-up to Turkey , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Liechtenstein took third place. Participation in the playoffs was gambled away by a 1-1 draw in the last game against Austria , which had been postponed due to the unstable situation in Israel. The realized Andreas Herzog only in injury time equalizer for Austria. If they had won, Israel would have tied with Austria, but would have had the better goal difference.

2006 in Germany

In the qualification for the second World Cup in Germany were France , the Switzerland , Ireland , Cyprus and the Faroe opponents. And again, the Israelis only finished third, this time tied with Switzerland, which had the better goal difference and then prevailed against Turkey in the group runners-up playoffs . In the direct encounters with Switzerland it was only enough to draw two (2: 2 and 1: 1). France qualified directly as group winners.

2010 in South Africa

The qualification for the first World Cup in Africa was a little worse. In a group again with Switzerland , which was able to qualify directly as the group winner this time and against whom there were again two draws, as well as Greece , Latvia , Luxembourg and Moldova only came fourth.

2014 in Brazil

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil, 3rd place was achieved again. In the group, Russia , Portugal , Azerbaijan , Northern Ireland and Luxembourg were the opponents. In the end, Israel was seven points behind the second-placed Portuguese, who were drawn twice and who prevailed against Sweden in the playoffs. Participation was also gambled away in the games against Azerbaijan, which was also drawn twice. Only both games were lost against group winners Russia.

2018 in Russia

In the qualification , which began in September 2016, the Israelis faced Spain , Italy , Albania , Macedonia and Liechtenstein . In May 2016 Elisha Levy took over the position of national coach. After half of the games, of which Israel won three and only lost to the two ex-world champions, the third place was taken. Since the next three games were lost, the Israelis had no chance of reaching the World Cup finals before the last two games. In the third to last game, a 1-0 defeat in Italy, Yossi Benayoun came on for his 100th international match counted by the Israeli Federation, making him the first Israeli to reach that mark. In the end, Israel finished fourth after a 1-0 win in Liechtenstein and a 0-1 home defeat to Italy, down one place from the previous qualification.

player

Ranking of the Israeli World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Ten players with three stakes in a tournament

Ranking of the Israeli World Cup players with the most goals

01. Mordechai Spiegler 1 goal

World Cup captains

• 1970: Mordechai Spiegler

Players banned from World Championships

No Israeli player has been banned so far.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

All players in the only Israeli World Cup squad so far played in Israel.

Games

The Israelis have played three World Cup games so far. None of them were won, one lost and two ended in a draw. This means that Israel, together with Angola, which only played three World Cup games, have the highest proportion (66.7%) of draw games.

The Israelis never took part in the opening game, never played against the hosts, later world champions and defending champions, and never against newcomers to the World Cup.

All World Cup games
No.	date	opponent	Result	occasion	venue	Remarks
1.	06/02/1970	Uruguay	0: 2	Preliminary round	Puebla ( MEX )
2.	06/07/1970	Sweden	1: 1	Preliminary round	Toluca ( MEX )
3.	06/11/1970	Italy	0-0	Preliminary round	Toluca ( MEX )

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Israel on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Previous campaign games ( Memento of the original from October 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ^ Egypt - Israel 7: 1
4. ↑ wmerresult.com: "Football news summarized"