Israel at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of the Israel national team's results at the FIFA World Cup. They have qualified for the tournament on one occasion, in 1970.^[1] Israel qualified for the 1970 World Cup as an Asian team. Nowadays Israel competes in the European zone, as well as a full member of UEFA since the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

History

Both in 1934 and in 1938, Mandatory Palestine has competed in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.^[2]^[3] In 1970, Israel national football team has competed in the FIFA World Cup final-tournament, for the very first time. FIFA states in reference to this 1930s Palestine Mandate team that Asia's (AFC's) 'Palestine team' that had participated in previous competitions during the 1930s, was actually the forerunner of current Europe's (UEFA's) Israel national team; and as such bears no-relation to the national team of the Palestinian Authority whatsoever.^[2] Therefore, the region currently referred to as Palestine (Israel) is confusingly considered "one of the first Asian teams to compete in the FIFA World Cup qualification".^[3]

Record at the FIFA World Cup

Israel's FIFA World Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad	Outcome	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Confederation
As {{fb\|PAL\|name=Mandatory Palestine										As Mandatory Palestine (Eretz Israel)
1930	Did not enter									Did not enter
1934	Did not qualify									2nd	2	0	0	2	2	11	Africa/Asia
1938	Did not qualify									2nd	2	0	0	2	1	4	Europe
As Israel										As Israel
1950	Did not qualify									2nd	2	0	0	2	2	11	Europe
1954										3rd	4	0	0	4	0	5	Europe
1958										Play-off	2	0	0	2	0	4	CAF/AFC
1962										Final Round	6	3	1	2	13	14	UEFA
1966										3rd	4	0	0	4	1	12	UEFA
1970	Group stage	12th	3	0	2	1	1	3	Squad	Final Round	4	3	1	0	8	1	AFC/OFC
1974	Did not qualify									Zone A Final	6	4	1	1	12	2
1978										First round	4	2	1	1	5	3
1982										5th	8	1	3	4	6	10	UEFA
1986										2nd	6	3	1	2	17	6	OFC
1990										Play-off	6	1	4	1	5	5	OFC
1994										6th	10	1	3	6	10	27	UEFA
1998										3rd	8	4	1	3	9	7
2002										3rd	8	3	3	2	11	7
2006										3rd	10	4	6	0	15	10
2010										4th	10	4	4	2	20	10
2014										3rd	10	3	5	2	19	14
2018										4th	10	4	0	6	10	15
2022										3rd	10	5	1	4	23	21
2026	To be determined									To be determined
2030
2034
2038
Total	1/26	Group stage	3	0	2	1	1	3

*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out

By Match

World Cup	Round	Opponent	Score	Result	Venue	Scorers
1970	Group stage	Uruguay	0–2	L	Puebla	—
		Sweden	1–1	D	Toluca	M. Spiegler
		Italy	0–0	D	Toluca	—

Record by Opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total	Goals Scored	Goals Conceded
Italy	0	1	0	1	0	0
Sweden	0	1	0	1	1	1
Uruguay	0	0	1	1	0	2

1970 FIFA World Cup

At the 1970 FIFA World Cup, Israel participated for the first time. Israel qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 1970, along with El Salvador and Morocco.^[1]

Although it was reported in the build-up to the final draw that seedings would be used, as had been the case at the previous two World Cup Finals,^[4]^[5] the FIFA Organising Committee ultimately announced that there would be no seeding of teams.^[6] Instead, the sixteen teams were divided into four 'geographical groupings', which also took into account the teams' strengths and even political considerations;^[7] the system ensured that Israel and Morocco would not be drawn to face each other after Morocco had earlier threatened to withdraw from the tournament, as they had done from the Olympic football tournament two years earlier,^[8] if that were the case.^[9]

1970 Qualifying Round

1970 Qualifying Round 1

During the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification Israel received a First round bye in the first round and moved directly to the Second round.

1970 Qualifying Round 2

In the second round, North Korea, quarter-finalists at the previous tournament, were disqualified after refusing to play in Israel for political reasons.^[10]^[11]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel	2	2	0	6	0	+6	4	Advance to Final round
2	New Zealand	2	0	2	0	6	−6	0
3	North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	3	Qualification for 1970 FIFA World Cup
2	Australia	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	1

Source: RSSSF

28 September 1969	Israel	4 – 0	New Zealand	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel^[12]
	Spiegler 48' Spiegel 65' Feigenbaum 72', 86'			Referee: Nassiri (Iran)

1 October 1969	Israel	2 – 0	New Zealand	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel^[12]
	Spiegler 24' Spiegel 33'			Referee: Nassiri (Iran)

1970 Qualifying Final Round

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Israel	2–1	Australia	1–0	1–1

4 December 1969	Israel	1 – 0	Australia	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
	Zeman 16' (o.g.)	Report		Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

14 December 1969	Australia	1 – 1	Israel	Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney
	Watkiss 88'		79' Spiegler	Referee: Ferdinand Marschall (Austria)

1970 FIFA World Cup Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	3	1	2	0	1	0	+1	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	Uruguay	3	1	1	1	2	1	+1	3	Advance to knockout stage
3	Sweden	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
4	Israel	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2	2

Source: FIFA

Uruguay vs Israel

2 June 1970

16:00

Uruguay	2–0	Israel
Maneiro 23' Mujica 50'	Report

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Attendance: 20,654

Referee: Bobby Davidson (Scotland)

Uruguay

Israel



GK	1	Ladislao Mazurkiewicz
DF	4	Luis Ubiña
DF	2	Atilio Ancheta
DF	3	Roberto Matosas
DF	6	Juan Mujica
MF	7	Luis Cubilla
MF	5	Julio Montero Castillo
MF	8	Pedro Rocha (c)	12'
FW	9	Víctor Espárrago
FW	10	Ildo Maneiro
FW	21	Julio Losada
Substitutions:
FW	20	Julio César Cortés	12'
Manager:
Juan Hohberg



GK	1	Itzhak Vissoker
DF	12	Yisha'ayahu Schwager
DF	4	David Primo
DF	14	Danny Shmulevich-Rom	57'
DF	5	Zvi Rosen
MF	6	Shmuel Rosenthal
MF	8	Giora Spiegel
MF	10	Mordechai Spiegler (c)
MF	7	Itzhak Shum
FW	9	Yehoshua Feigenbaum
FW	15	Rachamim Talbi	46'
Substitutions:
DF	2	Shraga Bar	46'
DF	16	Yochanan Vollach	57'
Manager:
Emmanuel Scheffer

Assistant referees:
Rudolf Scheurer (Switzerland)
Seyoum Tarekegn (Ethiopia)

Sweden vs Israel

7 June 1970

12:00

Sweden	1–1	Israel
Turesson 53'	Report	Spiegler 56'

Estadio Luis Dosal, Toluca

Attendance: 9,624

Referee: Seyoum Tarekegn (Ethiopia)

Sweden

Israel



GK	12	Sven-Gunnar Larsson
DF	2	Hans Selander
DF	3	Kurt Axelsson
DF	20	Jan Olsson
DF	5	Roland Grip
MF	6	Tommy Svensson (c)
MF	7	Bo Larsson
MF	16	Tomas Nordahl
FW	18	Tom Turesson
FW	9	Ove Kindvall
FW	11	Örjan Persson	75'
Substitutions:
FW	22	Sten Pålsson	75'
Manager:
Orvar Bergmark



GK	1	Itzhak Vissoker
DF	2	Shraga Bar
DF	4	David Primo
DF	16	Yochanan Vollach	51'
DF	5	Zvi Rosen
MF	12	Yisha'ayahu Schwager
MF	6	Shmuel Rosenthal
MF	7	Itzhak Shum
FW	10	Mordechai Spiegler (c)
FW	8	Giora Spiegel
FW	9	Yehoshua Feigenbaum
Substitutions:
MF	19	Roni Shuruk	51'
Manager:
Emmanuel Scheffer

Assistant referees:
Andrei Rădulescu (Romania)
Josip-Drago Horvat (Yugoslavia)

Italy vs Israel

11 June 1970

16:00

Italy	0–0	Israel
	Report

Estadio Luis Dosal, Toluca

Attendance: 9,890

Referee: Ayrton Vieira de Moraes (Brazil)

Italy

Israel



GK	1	Enrico Albertosi
DF	2	Tarcisio Burgnich
DF	5	Pierluigi Cera
DF	8	Roberto Rosato
DF	3	Giacinto Facchetti (c)
MF	10	Mario Bertini
MF	16	Giancarlo De Sisti
MF	15	Alessandro Mazzola
FW	13	Angelo Domenghini	46'
FW	20	Roberto Boninsegna
FW	11	Luigi Riva
Substitutions:
MF	14	Gianni Rivera	46'
Manager:
Ferruccio Valcareggi



GK	1	Itzhak Vissoker
DF	2	Shraga Bar
DF	4	David Primo
DF	12	Yisha'ayahu Schwager
DF	6	Shmuel Rosenthal
MF	5	Zvi Rosen
MF	3	Menachem Bello
MF	7	Itzhak Shum
FW	10	Mordechai Spiegler (c)
FW	8	Giora Spiegel
FW	9	Yehoshua Feigenbaum	46'
Substitutions:
FW	14	Dani Shmulevich-Rom	46'
Manager:
Emmanuel Scheffer

Assistant referees:
Seyoum Tarekegn (Ethiopia)
Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

Squad

Head coach: Emmanuel Scheffer

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	1GK	Yitzchak Vissoker	(1944-09-18)18 September 1944 (aged 25)	17	Hapoel Petah Tikva
2	2DF	Shraga Bar	(1948-03-24)24 March 1948 (aged 22)	13	Maccabi Netanya
3	2DF	Menachem Bello	(1947-12-26)26 December 1947 (aged 22)	25	Maccabi Tel Aviv
4	3MF	David Primo	(1946-05-05)5 May 1946 (aged 24)	18	Hapoel Tel Aviv
5	2DF	Zvi Rosen	(1947-06-23)23 June 1947 (aged 22)	16	Maccabi Tel Aviv
6	2DF	Shmuel Rosenthal	(1947-04-22)22 April 1947 (aged 23)	23	Hapoel Petah Tikva
7	3MF	Itzhak Shum	(1948-09-01)1 September 1948 (aged 21)	8	Hapoel Kfar Saba
8	4FW	Giora Spiegel	(1947-07-27)27 July 1947 (aged 22)	19	Maccabi Tel Aviv
9	4FW	Yehoshua Feigenbaum	(1947-12-05)5 December 1947 (aged 22)	15	Hapoel Tel Aviv
10	4FW	Mordechai Spiegler	(1944-08-19)19 August 1944 (aged 25)	36	Maccabi Netanya
11	3MF	George Borba	(1944-07-12)12 July 1944 (aged 25)	10	Hapoel Tel Aviv
12	3MF	Yisha'ayahu Schwager	(1946-02-10)10 February 1946 (aged 24)	6	Maccabi Haifa
13	4FW	Yechezekel Chazom	(1947-01-01)1 January 1947 (aged 23)	4	Hapoel Tel Aviv
14	3MF	Danny Shmulevich-Rom	(1940-11-29)29 November 1940 (aged 29)	24	Maccabi Haifa
15	4FW	Rachamim Talbi	(1943-05-17)17 May 1943 (aged 27)	25	Maccabi Tel Aviv
16	2DF	Yochanan Vollach	(1945-05-14)14 May 1945 (aged 25)	4	Hapoel Haifa
17	4FW	Eli Ben Rimoz	(1947-01-01)1 January 1947 (aged 23)	2	Hapoel Jerusalem
18	3MF	Moshe Romano	(1946-05-06)6 May 1946 (aged 24)	6	Shimshon Tel Aviv
19	3MF	Roni Shuruk	(1946-02-24)24 February 1946 (aged 24)	8	Hakoah Maccabi Ramat Gan
20	2DF	David Karako	(1945-02-11)11 February 1945 (aged 25)	6	Maccabi Tel Aviv
21	1GK	Yechiel Hameiri	(1946-08-20)20 August 1946 (aged 23)	1	Hapoel Haifa
22	1GK	Yair Nossovsky	(1937-06-29)29 June 1937 (aged 32)	3	Hapoel Kfar Saba

Qualifier history

Through the 2014 qualifier, Israel has entered the qualifiers for the World Cup on 19 occasions. In 1934 and 1938 Palestine, under the British Mandate, competed. As Israel was established in place of Palestine in 1948, Israel began competing in 1950. In all years but 1970 Israel failed to qualify for the World Cup.

1934 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1934 FIFA World Cup, Mandatory Palestine competed in the Africa and Asia Group 12 qualifying round.^[13] Mandatory Palestine finished in second place and was eliminated.

The Palestine football team consisted of nine British footballers, six Jewish footballers and one Arab footballer.^[14] FIFA states in reference to the 1930s Palestine Mandate team that the 'Palestine team' that had participated in previous competitions in the 1930s was actually the forerunner of today's Israel team and as such bears no relation to the national team of the Palestinian authority.^[2] However, the region currently known as Palestine is considered "one of the first Asian teams to compete in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers".^[3]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
1	Egypt	2	2	0	11	2	5.500	4
2	Palestine, British Mandate	2	0	2	2	11	0.182	0
—	Turkey (W)	0	0	0	0	0	—	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(W) Withdrew

Matches

16 March 1934	Egypt	7 – 1	Palestine, British Mandate	Cairo, Egypt
	El-Tetsh 11', 35', 51' Taha 21', 79' Latif 43', 87'	[1]	Nudelman 61'	Stadium: British Army Ground Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Stanley Wells (England)

6 April 1934	Palestine, British Mandate	1 – 4	Egypt	Tel Aviv, Palestine/Eretz Israel
	Sukenik 54'	[2]	Latif 2' El-Tetsh 7', 22' Fawzi 35'	Stadium: Palms Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Frederick Goodsby (England)

Squad

Coaches: Egon Pollak, Shimon Ratner

16/03/1934:
GK: Willy Berger (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
DF: Avraham Reznik (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Pinhas Fiedler (Maccabi Hasmonean)
MF: Zalman Friedman (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Gedalyahu Fuchs (Hapoel Haifa), Yohanan Sukenik (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
FW: Amnon Harlap (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Ferenc Kraus (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Paul Kastenbaum (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Haim Reich, Avraham Nudelman (Hapoel Tel Aviv)

06/04/1934:
GK: Willy Berger (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
DF: David Weinberg (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Pinhas Fiedler (Maccabi Hasmonean)
MF: Zalman Friedman (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Gedalyahu Fuchs (Hapoel Haifa), Yohanan Sukenik (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
FW: Amnon Harlap (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Ya'akov Levi-Meir (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Ya'akov Zelivanski (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Haim Reich, Avraham Nudelman (Hapoel Tel Aviv)

1938 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1938 FIFA World Cup, Mandatory Palestine competed in the UEFA Group 6 qualifying round.^[15] Hungary as the strongest team of this group was seeded. Greece and Mandatory Palestine would play against each other on a home-and-away basis, with Hungary playing against the winner at home. Mandatory Palestine lost to Greece in the First Round, and finished in third and last place.

In 1938 World Cup marked the second (1934 being the first) and final time Mandatory Palestine competed in the World Cup. FIFA states in reference to the 1930s Palestine Mandate team that the 'Palestine team' that had participated in previous competitions in the 1930s was actually the forerunner of today's Israel team and as such bears no relation to the national team of the Palestinian authority.^[2]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GR	Pts
1	Greece	2	2	0	0	4	1	4.000	4
2	Palestine, British Mandate	2	0	0	2	1	4	0.250	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

22 January 1938	Palestine, British Mandate	1 – 3	Greece	Tel Aviv, Palestine/Eretz Israel
	Neufeld 36'	Report	Vikelidis 15', 30' Migiakis 73'	Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Mohammed Youssef (Egypt)

20 February 1938	Greece	1 – 0	Palestine, British Mandate	Athens, Greece
	Vikelidis 88' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadio Leoforos Alexandras Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Mika Popovic (Yugoslavia)

Game 1

Mandatory Palestine vs Greece

Palestine (British Mandate)	1 — 3 (final score after 90 minutes)	Greece
Manager: Egon Pollak Team: 01 - GK - Julius Klein 02 - DF - Avraham Beit haLevi 03 - DF - Avraham Reznik (capt.) 04 - MF - Yosef Libermann 05 - MF - Yohanan Sukenik 06 - MF - Menahem Mirmovich 07 - FW - Mila Ginzburg 08 - FW - Shuka Brashedski 09 - FW - Peri Neufeld 10 - FW - Gaul Machlis 11 - FW - Avraham Nudelmann Substitutes: none Unused Substitutes: ? Scorers: 1-2 Peri Neufeld (36')	Half-time: 1-2 Competition: World Cup qualifier 1938 (Group 5) Date: Saturday 22 January 1938 Kick off: 3.30 p.m. Venue: Maccabiah Stadium, Tel Aviv Attendance: 5000 Referee: Mohamed Youssef EGY Assistants: ? Match rules: 90 minutes substitutes ?	Manager: Kostas Negrepontis Team: 01 - GK - Spyros Sklavounos 02 - DF - Georgios Gasparis 03 - DF - Georgios Papadopoulos 04 - MF - Anastassios Kritikos 05 - MF - Antonis Kasimatis sub 46' 06 - MF - Konstantinos Gikas 07 - FW - Antonis Migiakis (capt.) 08 - FW - Dimitris Baltatsis 09 - FW - Kleanthis Vikelidis 10 - FW - Kleanthis Maropoulos 11 - FW - Theologis Symeonidis Substitutes: 12 - MF - Spyros Kontoulis on 46' Unused Substitutes: ? Scorers: 0-1 Kleanthis Vikelidis (15') 0-2 Kleanthis Vikelidis (30') 1-3 Antonis Migiakis (73')

Game 2

Greece vs Mandatory Palestine

Greece	1 — 0 (final score after 90 minutes)	Palestine (British Mandate)
Manager: Kostas Negrepontis Team: 01 - GK - Spyros Sklavounos sub 15' 02 - DF - Georgios Gasparis 03 - DF - Georgios Papadopoulos 04 - MF - Anastassios Kritikos 05 - MF - Spyros Kontoulis 06 - MF - Konstantinos Gikas 07 - FW - Antonis Migiakis (capt.) 08 - FW - Spyros Depountis 09 - FW - Kleanthis Vikelidis 10 - FW - Kleanthis Maropoulos 11 - FW - Vassilis Manetas Substitutes: 12 - GK - Nikolaos Sotiriadis on 15' Unused Substitutes: ? Scorers: 1-0 Kleanthis Vikelidis (86', pen.)	Half-time: 0-0 Competition: World Cup qualifier 1938 (Group 5) Date: Sunday 20 February 1938 Kick off: 3 p.m. Venue: Leoforos Alexandras, Athens Attendance: 12000 Referee: Mika Popović YUG Assistants: ? Match rules: 90 minutes substitutes ?	Manager: Egon Pollak Team: 01 - GK - Israel Elsner 02 - DF - Avraham Beit haLevi 03 - DF - Avraham Reznik (capt.) 06 - MF - Yosef Libermann 05 - MF - Gdalyahu Fuchs 04 - MF - Menahem Mirmovich 08 - FW - Yona Stern 10 - FW - Jerry Beit haLevi 09 - FW - Peri Neufeld 07 - FW - Gaul Machlis 11 - FW - Natan Panz Substitutes: none Unused Substitutes: ? Scorers: -

Squad

Head coach: Egon Pollak

Pos.	Player	DoB	Games played	Goals	Minutes played			Club
DF	Avraham Beit haLevi	1915	2	0	180	90	90	Hapoel Tel Aviv
FW	Jerry Beit haLevi	14 November 1912	1	0	90	-	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Shuka Brashedski	1914	1	0	90	90	-	Hapoel Haifa
GK	Israel Elsner	1909	1	0	90	-	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
MF	Gdalyahu Fuchs	1911	1	0	90	-	90	Hapoel Haifa
FW	Mila Ginzburg	1918	1	0	90	90	-	Maccabi Tel Aviv
GK	Julius Klein	1907	1	0	90	90	-	Hapoel Haifa
MF	Yosef Libermann	1909	2	0	180	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Gaul Machlis	1918	2	0	180	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
MF	Menahem Mirmovich	1919	2	0	180	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Peri Neufeld	1913	2	1	180	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Avraham Nudelmann	1910	1	0	90	90	-	Hapoel Tel Aviv
FW	Natan Pentz	1917	1	0	90	-	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
DF	Avraham Reznik	1909	2	0	180	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Yona Stern	1908	1	0	90	-	90	Hapoel Haifa
MF	Yohanan Sukenik	1910	1	0	90	90	-	Hapoel Tel Aviv

1950 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1950 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 3 qualifying round. Israel finished in third and last place.^[16]

This World Cup was the first for Israel, although they previously competed in 1934 and 1938 as Mandatory Palestine. FIFA states in reference to the 1930s Palestine Mandate team that the 'Palestine team' that had participated in previous competitions in the 1930s was actually the forerunner of today's Israel team and as such bears no relation to the national team of the Palestinian authority.^[2]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Yugoslavia	2	2	0	0	11	2	+9	4
2	Israel	2	0	0	2	2	11	−9	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Source:^[17]

Matches

Israel competed in Group 3, which had 3 teams each. The strongest team, France, was seeded. The winner of the First Round would move on to the Final Round. Israel lost to Yugoslavia in the First Round and was eliminated.

21 August 1949	Yugoslavia	6–0	Israel	Belgrade, Yugoslavia
	Pajević 12', 19', 26' Senčar 44' Ž. Čajkovski 63' Bobek 83' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: JNA Stadion Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Giovanni Galeati (Italy)

18 September 1949	Israel	2–5	Yugoslavia	Tel Aviv, Israel
	Glazer 65', 76'	Report	Valok 19', 64' Bobek 20' Z. Čajkovski 41' Ž. Čajkovski 82'	Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Yosef Kinstlich (Cyprus)

1954 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1954 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 10 qualifying round. Israel finished in third and last place.^[18]

Standings

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts				Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Final table													Home							Away
1.	Yugoslavia	4	4	0	0	4	0	+4	8	X	1:0	1:0	2	2	0	0	2	0	4	2	2	0	0	2	0	4
2.	Greece	4	2	0	2	3	2	+1	4	0:1	X	1:0	2	1	0	1	1	1	2	2	1	0	1	2	1	2
3.	Israel	4	0	0	4	0	5	-5	0	0:1	0:2	X	2	0	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	0	2	0	2	0

Matches

1 November 1953	Greece	1 – 0	Israel	Athens, Greece
	Bembis	Report		Referee: Massai (Italy)

8 November 1953	Yugoslavia	1 – 0	Israel	Skopje, Yugoslavia
	Milutinović	Report		Referee: Alsteen (Belgium)

8 March 1954	Israel	0 – 2	Greece	Ramat Gan, Israel
		Report	Kokkinakis Kamaras	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Buchmüller (Switzerland)

21 March 1954	Israel	0 – 1	Yugoslavia	Ramat Gan, Israel
		Report	Zebec	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Leafe (England)

1958 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1958 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the Africa and Asia qualification round. The round was conducted in a knockout stage format.^[19] Israel won its group by default because its three opponents, Turkey, Indonesia and Sudan, refused to play.

The national team was placed in the African/Asian zone and was drawn to play against Turkey in the first round. However, Turkey withdrew in protest of being placed in the African/Asian zone (instead of the European Zone), and Israel advanced to the second round without playing a match, along with Indonesia, Egypt and Sudan. Israel was drawn to play Indonesia, but, as Indonesia refused to play in Israel and as FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground, Indonesia withdrew and Israel advanced to the regional finals, again without playing a match, alongside Sudan. In the final round, Sudan refused to play Israel for political reasons and withdrew. FIFA had imposed a rule that no team would qualify without playing at least one match, after it had happened in several previous World Cups. Wales, which finished second in its group behind Czechoslovakia, was drawn into a play-off, which they won.

CAF / AFC Preliminary Round - Group 2

Turkey refused to compete in the Asian group, so Israel advanced to the Second Round automatically.

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Israel	advanced
—	Turkey	withdrew

CAF / AFC second round

Indonesia withdrew after FIFA rejected their request to play against Israel on neutral ground. Israel advanced to the Final Round automatically.

Rank	Team	Pts
1=	Israel	advanced
1=	Sudan	advanced
—	Egypt	withdrew
—	Indonesia	withdrew

CAF / AFC Final Round

Sudan refused to play against Israel for political reasons, so Israel would technically qualify automatically, but before the qualification rounds began, FIFA ruled that no team would qualify without playing at least one match (except for the defending champions and the hosts), and Israel had yet to play any.

Rank	Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1	Israel	advanced
—	Sudan	withdrew

UEFA / AFC Play-off

A special play-off was created between Israel and the runner-up of one of the UEFA Groups, where the teams played against each other on a home-and-away basis, with the winner qualifying. After Belgium refused, Wales, the runner-up of UEFA Group 4, was the team drawn from the UEFA group runners-up.^[20]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Wales	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	4
2	Israel	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

15 January 1958	Israel	0 – 2	Wales	Ramat Gan, Israel
		Report	L. Allchurch 38' Bowen 65'	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Maurice Guigue (France)

5 February 1958	Wales	2 – 0	Israel	Cardiff, Wales
	I. Allchurch 76' Jones 80'	Report		Stadium: Ninian Park Referee: Klas Schipper (Netherlands)

1962 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1962 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 7 qualifying round. The round was conducted in a knockout stage format. The five teams in this group played in a knockout stage on a home-and-away basis, with Israel finishing in second place, after losing to Italy in the finals.^[21]

Bracket

First Round		Second Round		Final



Italy	-

bye	-
		Italy	-

		Romania	withdrew
Romania	-

bye	-
				Italy	4 6

				Israel	2 0
Ethiopia	-

bye	-
		Ethiopia	0 2

		Israel	1 3
Israel	1 6

Cyprus	1 1

Matches

First Round

Israel defeated Cyprus to advance to the Second Round.

13 November 1960	Cyprus	1 – 1	Israel	Nicosia, Cyprus
	Shialis	Report	Kofman 31'	Referee: Bajić (Yugoslavia)

27 November 1960	Israel	6 – 1	Cyprus	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Levi 14', 30', 66' Stelmach 61', 88' Nahari 34'	Report	Shialis	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Bajić (Yugoslavia)

Second round

Israel defeated Ethiopia to advance to the Final Round.

14 March 1961	Israel	1 – 0	Ethiopia	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Glazer 69'			Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Zsolt (Hungary)

19 March 1961	Israel	3 – 2	Ethiopia	Haifa, Israel
	Glazer 27', 77' Stelmach 59'		Mengistu Tesfaye	Referee: Pósa (Hungary)

Final round

Israel lost to Italy in the Final Round to be eliminated.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Italy	2	2	0	0	10	2	+8	4
Israel	2	0	0	2	2	10	−8	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

15 October 1961	Israel	2 – 4	Italy	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Stelmach 15' Young 38'	Report	Lojacono 53' (pen.) Altafini 79' Corso 87', 90'	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Takow (Bulgaria)

4 November 1961	Italy	6 – 0	Israel	Turin, Italy
	Sivori 16', 52', 65', 88' Corso 59' Angelillo 69'	Report		Referee: Asensi Martin (Spain)

Squad

Head coach: Gyula Mándi

Pos.	Player	DoB	Games played	Goals	Minutes played							Club
	Aharon Amar	1937	3	0	270	90	90	90	-	-	-	Maccabi Haifa F.C.
	Mordechai Benbinisti		6	0	540	90	90	90	90	90	90	Hapoel Jerusalem F.C.
FW	Yehoshua Glazer	29 December 1927	2	3	180	-	-	90	90	-	-	Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
	Yosef Goldstein		3	0	270	-	90	90	90	-	-	Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
	Yaacov Grundman		1	0	90	-	-	-	-	90	-	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C.
GK	Ya'akov Hodorov	16 June 1927	2	0	180	-	-	-	-	90	90	Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C.
	Boaz Kofman		1	1	90	90	-	-	-	-	-	Hapoel Petah Tikva
FW	Shlomo Levi		4	3	360	90	90	90	90	-	-	Hapoel Haifa F.C.
	Amatsia Levkovich		6	0	540	90	90	90	90	90	90	Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C.
	Avraham Menchel	12 December 1935	5	0	450	90	90	-	90	90	90	Maccabi Haifa F.C.
	Zvi Muisescu		2	0	180	90	90	-	-	-	-
	Shlomo Nahari		3	1	270	-	90	90	-	90	-	Hapoel Petah Tikva
	Shalom Peterburg		1	0	90	-	-	-	-	-	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva
FW	Zecharia Ratzabi		3	0	270	90	-	-	-	90	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva
FW	Danny Shmulevich-Rom	29 November 1940	4	0	360	-	90	90	90	-	90	Maccabi Haifa F.C.
FW	Nahum Stelmach	19 July 1936	5	4	450	90	90	90	-	90	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva
	Zvi Tendler		2	0	180	-	-	-	-	90	90	Hapoel Haifa F.C.
	Gidon Tish		5	0	450	90	-	90	90	90	90	Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C.
GK	Yaacov Visoker		4	0	360	90	90	90	90	-	-	Hapoel Petah Tikva
	Uri Weinberg		1	0	90	-	-	-	90	-	-	Hapoel Haifa F.C.
	Reuven Young		3	1	270	-	-	-	90	90	90	Hapoel Haifa F.C.

1966 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1966 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 1 qualifying round, finishing in third and last place.^[22] Israeli referee Menachem Ashkenazi also participated in the World Cup, officiating the Group 1 game between France and Mexico, as well as the Quarter-finals game between Portugal and North Korea.^[23]

Standings

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts				Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Final table													Home							Away
1.	Belgium	4	3	0	1	11	3	+8	6	X	5:0	1:0	2	2	0	0	6	0	4	2	1	0	1	5	3	2
2.	Bulgaria	4	3	0	1	9	6	+3	6	3:0	X	4:0	2	2	0	0	7	0	4	2	1	0	1	2	6	2
3.	Israel	4	0	0	4	1	12	-11	0	0:5	1:2	X	2	0	0	2	1	7	0	2	0	0	2	0	5	0

Matches

9 May 1965	Belgium	1 – 0	Israel	Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium
	Jurion 24' (pen.)	Report		Attendance: 21,699 Referee: Poulsen (Denmark)

13 June 1965	Bulgaria	4 – 0	Israel	Slavia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria
	Kotkov 16', 39' Asparuhov 67' Kitov 69'	Report		Attendance: 18,770 Referee: Talu (Turkey)

10 November 1965	Israel	0 – 5	Belgium	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel
		Report	Van Himst 24', 33', 69' Thio 31' Puis 48'	Attendance: 48,355 Referee: Sbardeua (Italy)

21 November 1965	Israel	1 – 2	Bulgaria	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel
	Talbi 48'	Report	Kolev 31' Asparuhov 81'	Attendance: 28,213 Referee: Babauczek (Austria)

Squad

Head coach: Milovan Ćirić

Pos.	Player	DoB	Games played	Goals	Minutes played					Club
MF	Haim Bahar	9 April 1943	3	0	270	90	-	90	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva
DF	Menahem Bello	26 December 1947	1	0	90	-	90	-	-	Maccabi Tel Aviv
MF	Itzhak Englander	30 April 1946	1	0	90	-	-	90	-	Hapoel Haifa
FW	Yehezkel Hazum	1947	1	0	90	-	-	90	-	Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C.
FW	Boaz Kofman	23 May 1935	2	0	180	-	90	-	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva
DF	Moshe Leon	1944	3	0	270	90	-	90	90	Maccabi Jaffa
GK	Haim Levin	3 March 1937	3	0	270	90	90	90	-	Maccabi Tel Aviv
DF	Amatsia Levkovich	September 1938	2	0	180	90	90	-	-	Hapoel Tel Aviv
FW	Yosef Mahalal	1939	1	0	90	-	-	90	-	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv
GK	Yair Nosovski	29 June 1937	1	0	90	-	-	-	90	Hapoel Kfar Saba
MF	Haim Nurieli	1943	1	0	90	90	-	-	-	Hapoel Tel Aviv
DF	David Primo	5 May 1946	4	0	360	90	90	90	90	Hapoel Tel Aviv
FW	Moshe Romano	1946	1	0	90	-	-	-	90	Shimshon Tel Aviv
MF	Shmuel Rosenthal	22 April 1947	3	0	270	-	90	90	90	Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C.
MF	Danny Shmulevich-Rom	29 November 1940	4	0	360	90	90	90	90	Maccabi Haifa
MF	Giora Spiegel	27 July 1947	1	0	90	-	-	-	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
FW	Mordechai Spiegler	19 August 1944	3	0	270	90	90	90	-	Maccabi Netanya
FW	Nahum Stelmach	19 July 1936	2	0	180	90	90	-	-	Hapoel Petah Tikva
MF	Rahamim Talbi	17 May 1943	3	1	270	-	90	90	90	Maccabi Tel Aviv
MF	Reuven Young	15 May 1942	3	0	270	90	90	-	90	Hapoel Haifa
FW	Gadi Zelniker	12 March 1944	1	0	90	90	-	-	-	Hakoah Ramat Gan

1974 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the AFC and OFC qualifying round, losing in the Zone A finals.^[24] The 1974 World Cup was Israel's last as an official member of the AFC, as they resigned the Asian Games Federation in 1974.^[25]

Classification matches

Based on the results of the classification match Israel was assigned to Group 2 with Thailand and Malaysia.

16 May 1973	Israel	2 – 1	Japan	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
19:45 KST (UTC+09)	Mordechai Spiegler 5' Moshe Onana 61'		Shusaku Hirasawa 27'	Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Boskovic (Australia)

Group 2

Israel finished in first place in Group 2, moving on to the semi-finals with South Korea.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Israel	3	2	1	0	9	0	+9	5
2	South Korea	3	1	2	0	4	0	+4	4
3	Malaysia	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	3
4	Thailand	3	0	0	3	0	12	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

19 May 1973	Israel	3 – 0	Malaysia	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
17:25 KST (UTC+09)	Farkas 50' Itzhak Shum 62' Moshe Onana 82'			Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Aing Kim Ean (Khmer Republic)

21 May 1973	Israel	6 – 0	Thailand	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
18:00 KST (UTC+09)	George Borba 12' Mordechai Spiegler 62' Itzhak Shum 69' Zvi Rozen 73', 84' Moshe Onana 78'			Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Dhillon (Singapore)

23 May 1973	South Korea	0 – 0	Israel	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
19:45 KST (UTC+09)				Attendance: 40,000 Referee: U Tin Thut (Burma)

Semifinals

Israel, defeating Japan in the semifinals, advanced to the Zone A finals to face South Korea.

26 May 1973	Israel	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Japan	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
16:45 KST (UTC+09)	Moshe Onana 110'			Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Dhillon (Singapore)

Finals

In the Zone A finals, Israel lost to South Korea, who moved on to the AFC/OFC Final round.

28 May 1973	South Korea	1 – 0 (a.e.t.)	Israel	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul
19:00 KST (UTC+09)	Cha Bum-Kun 109'			Attendance: 40,000 Referee: U Tin Thut (Burma)

1978 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1978 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the AFC and OFC Group 2 qualifying round, finishing in second place.^[26] Israel, despite resigning the Asian Games Federation in 1974, was still assigned to compete in the AFC and OFC qualifying round.^[25]

Additionally Israeli referee, Abraham Klein, worked games in Group 1, Group A and the third place match.^[27]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	South Korea	4	2	2	0	4	1	+3	6
2	Israel	4	2	1	1	5	3	+2	5
3	Japan	4	0	1	3	0	5	−5	1
—	North Korea (W)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(W) Withdrew

Matches

27 February 1977	Israel	0 – 0	South Korea	Ramat Gan, Israel
				Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: McGinlay (Scotland)

6 March 1977	Israel	2 – 0	Japan	Ramat Gan, Israel
				Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Kitabdjian (France)

10 March 1977	Japan	0 – 2	Israel	Ramat Gan, Israel^[28]
				Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Referee: Verbeke (France)

20 March 1977	South Korea	3 – 1	Israel	Seoul, Korea Republic
	Cha Bum-Kun 23' Park Sang-In 86' Choi Chong-Dock 88'		Malmillian 76'

1982 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1982 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 6 qualifying round, finishing in fifth and last place.^[29]

Israel was previously part of the Asian Games Federation until it was disbanded in 1981. In 1982 Israel was barred joining the new Olympic Council of Asia, Israel opted to join the European Olympic Committees in the early 1990s. The 1982 World Cup Israel was not yet part of the continent group, however was assigned to it.^[30]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Scotland	8	4	3	1	9	4	+5	11
2	Northern Ireland	8	3	3	2	6	3	+3	9
3	Sweden	8	3	2	3	7	8	−1	8
4	Portugal	8	3	1	4	8	11	−3	7
5	Israel	8	1	3	4	6	10	−4	5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

26 March 1980	Israel	0 – 0	Northern Ireland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
		Report		Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Stjepan Glavina (Yugoslavia)

18 June 1980	Sweden	1 – 1	Israel	Råsunda Stadium, Solna
	Ramberg 35'	Report	Damti 80'	Attendance: 39,831 Referee: Martti Hirviniemi (Finland)

12 November 1980	Israel	0 – 0	Sweden	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
		Report		Attendance: 45,000 Referee: George Courtney (England)

17 December 1980	Portugal	3 – 0	Israel	Estádio da Luz, Lisbon
	Coelho 33', 72' Jordão 36'	Report		Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Enzo Barbaresco (Italy)

25 February 1981	Israel	0 – 1	Scotland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
		Report	Dalglish 54'	Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Otto Anderco (Romania)

28 April 1981	Scotland	3 – 1	Israel	Hampden Park‚ Glasgow
	Robertson 21' (pen.), 30' (pen.) Provan 54'	Report	Sinai 56'	Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Gudmundur Haraldsson (Iceland)

28 October 1981	Israel	4 – 1	Portugal	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
	Tabak 6', 18', 30' Damti 14'	Report	Jordão 8'	Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Sotou Afxentiou (Cyprus)

18 November 1981	Northern Ireland	1 – 0	Israel	Windsor Park, Belfast
	Armstrong 27'	Report		Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Emilio Guruceta Muro (Spain)

Goalscorers
3 goals

Benny Tabak

2 goals

Gidi Damti

1 goal

Moshe Sinai

1986 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the OFC qualification round, finishing in second place.

Israel was previously part of the Asian Games Federation until it was disbanded in 1981. In 1982 Israel was barred joining the new Olympic Council of Asia, Israel opted to join the European Olympic Committees in the early 1990s. The 1986 World Cup Israel was not yet part of a continent group, therefore joining OFC.^[30]

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	6	4	2	0	20	2	+18	10	Advance to Inter-confederation play-offs	—	1–1	2–0	8–0
2	Israel	6	3	1	2	17	6	+11	7		1–2	—	3–0	5–0
3	New Zealand	6	3	1	2	13	7	+6	7		0–0	3–1	—	5–0
4	Chinese Taipei	6	0	0	6	1	36	−35	0		0–7	0–6	1–5	—

Source: RSSSF

Matches

3 September 1985	Chinese Taipei	0–6	Israel	Ramat Gan, Israel^[31]
			28', 35', 74' Turk 39' Armeli 53', 90' Malmilian	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Mircea Salomir (Romania)

8 September 1985	Israel	5–0	Chinese Taipei	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Cohen 7' Armeli 18' Ohana 56', 72', 79'			Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Ioan Igna (Romania)

8 October 1985	Israel	1–2	Australia	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Armeli 65'		46' Mitchell 50' Kosmina	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Luigi Agnolin (Italy)

20 October 1985	Australia	1–1	Israel	Melbourne, Australia
	Ratcliffe 32'		47' Cohen	Stadium: Olympic Park Attendance: 27,000 Referee: José Rosa dos Santos (Portugal)

26 October 1985	New Zealand	3–1	Israel	Auckland, New Zealand
	Rufer 3' Dunford 30' Walker 67'		23' Armeli	Stadium: Mount Smart Stadium Attendance: 10,600 Referee: Egbert Mulder (Netherlands)

10 November 1985	Israel	3–0	New Zealand	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Cohen 67' Selecter 75' Armeli 85'			Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Dieter Pauly (West Germany)

Goalscorers
5 goals

Zahi Armeli

3 goals

2 goals

Uri Malmilian

1 goal

Moshe Selecter

1990 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the OFC qualification round, finishing in first place. Israel went on to face Colombia in the CONMBOL vs. OFC playoff, losing 1–0.

Israel was previously part of the Asian Games Federation until it was disbanded in 1981. In 1982 Israel was barred joining the new Olympic Council of Asia, Israel opted to join the European Olympic Committees in the early 1990s. The 1990 World Cup Israel was not yet part of a continent group, therefore joining OFC.^[30]

OFC qualification

Round 1

In round 1, Israel received a bye and advanced to the final round directly. The remaining four teams were paired up to play knockout matches on a home-and-away basis. The winners would advance to the Second Round.

Round 2

In round 2 Israel competed against Australia and New Zealand, finishing in first place.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel	4	1	3	0	5	4	+1	5	Advance to Inter-confederation play-offs	—	1–1	1–0
2	Australia	4	1	2	1	6	5	+1	4		1–1	—	4–1
3	New Zealand	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	3		2–2	2–0	—

Source: RSSSF

5 March 1989	Israel	1–0	New Zealand	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Rosenthal 7'			Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 44,500 Referee: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland)

19 March 1989	Israel	1–1	Australia	Ramat Gan, Israel
	Ohana 67' (pen.)		72' Yankos	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Manfred Neuner (West Germany)

9 April 1989	New Zealand	2–2	Israel	Auckland, New Zealand
	Wright 19' Dunford 35'		16' Rosenthal 37' Klinger	Stadium: Mount Smart Stadium Attendance: 3,200 Referee: Claude Bouillet (France)

16 April 1989	Australia	1–1	Israel	Sydney, Australia
	Trimboli 88'		40' Ohana	Stadium: Sydney Football Stadium Attendance: 40,320 Referee: Carlo Longhi (Italy)

Goal Scorers

2 goals

1 goal

Nir Klinger

CONMEBOL vs OFC playoff

Israel, as the winning team of the OFC qualification tournament played the CONMEBOL group winner with the weakest record in a home-and-away play-off. The winner of this play-off qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Colombia	1–0	Israel	1–0	0–0

15 October 1989	Colombia	1–0	Israel	Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla
15:30 UTC–5	Usuriaga 73'			Attendance: 65,000 Referee: Michel Vautrot (France)

30 October 1989	Israel	0–0	Colombia	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
19:00 UTC+2				Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Edgardo Codesal (Mexico)

1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 6 qualifying round, finishing in sixth and last place.^[32] Israel was previously part of the Asian Games Federation until it was disbanded in 1981. In 1982 Israel was barred joining the new Olympic Council of Asia, Israel opted to join the European Olympic Committees in the early 1990s. The 1994 World Cup was the first in which Israel competed in Europe.^[30]

Standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Sweden	10	6	3	1	19	8	+11	15
Bulgaria	10	6	2	2	19	10	+9	14
France	10	6	1	3	17	10	+7	13
Austria	10	3	2	5	15	16	−1	8
Finland	10	2	1	7	9	18	−9	5
Israel	10	1	3	6	10	27	−17	5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

28 October 1992	Austria	5–2	Israel	Prater Stadium, Vienna
	Herzog 41', 46' Polster 49' Stöger 56' A. Ogris 87'	Report	Zohar 57', 77'	Attendance: 12,000 Referee: João Pinto Correia (Portugal)

11 November 1992	Israel	1–3	Sweden	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
	Banin 42'	Report	Limpar 37' Dahlin 58' Ingesson 74'	Attendance: 25,230 Referee: Serge Muhmenthaler (Switzerland)

2 December 1992	Israel	0–2	Bulgaria	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
		Report	Sirakov 56' Penev 83'	Attendance: 15,000 Referee: Vassilios Nikakis (Greece)

17 February 1993	Israel	0–4	France	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
		Report	Cantona 28' Blanc 62', 84' Roche 89'	Attendance: 26,000 Referee: Ryszard Wójcik (Poland)

12 May 1993	Bulgaria	2–2	Israel	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
	Stoichkov 35' (pen.) Sirakov 60'	Report	R. Harazi 52' Rosenthal 53'	Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Ahmet Çakar (Turkey)

2 June 1993	Sweden	5–0	Israel	Råsunda, Solna
	Brolin 17', 41', 65' Zetterberg 55' Landberg 89'	Report		Attendance: 22,042 Referee: Sergei Khusainov (Russia)

16 June 1993	Finland	0–0	Israel	Lahti Stadium, Lahti
		Report		Attendance: 4,620 Referee: Volodymyr Pyanykh (Ukraine)

13 October 1993	France	2–3	Israel	Parc des Princes, Paris
	Sauzée 32' Ginola 43'	Report	R. Harazi 21' Berkovich 83' Atar 90'	Attendance: 32,700 Referee: Alan Snoddy (Northern Ireland)

27 October 1993	Israel	1–1	Austria	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
	Rosenthal 3'	Report	Reinmayr 15'	Attendance: 23,500 Referee: László Vágner (Hungary)

10 November 1993	Israel	1–3	Finland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
	R. Harazi 90'	Report	Hyryläinen 54', 85' Hjelm 73'	Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Daniel Roduit (Switzerland)

Goalscorers

3 goals

Ronen Harazi

2 goals

1 goal

1998 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 5 qualifying round, finishing in third place.^[33]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Bulgaria	8	6	0	2	18	9	+9	18
2	Russia	8	5	2	1	19	5	+14	17
3	Israel	8	4	1	3	9	7	+2	13
4	Cyprus	8	3	1	4	10	15	−5	10
5	Luxembourg	8	0	0	8	2	22	−20	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

1 September 1996	Israel	2–1	Bulgaria	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
18:00 UTC+3	Harazi 34' Banin 62'	Report	Balakov 3' (pen.)	Attendance: 13,200 Referee: Alfredo Trentalange (Italy)

9 October 1996	Israel	1–1	Russia	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
18:00 UTC+3	Brumer 65'	Report	Kolyvanov 82'	Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Marc Batta (France)

10 November 1996	Cyprus	2–0	Israel	Tsirion, Limassol
18:00 UTC+2	Gogić 9', 15' (pen.)	Report		Attendance: 10,500 Referee: Gheorghe Constantin (Romania)

15 December 1996	Israel	1–0	Luxembourg	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
18:00 UTC+2	Ohana 39'	Report		Attendance: 24,400 Referee: John Ashman (Wales)

31 March 1997	Luxembourg	0–3	Israel	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City
17:00 UTC+2		Report	Zohar 11', 79' Banin 86' (pen.)	Attendance: 6,607 Referee: René Temmink (Netherlands)

30 April 1997	Israel	2–0	Cyprus	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
18:00 UTC+3	Ohana 3', 72'	Report		Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Vasyl Melnychuk (Ukraine)

8 June 1997	Russia	2–0	Israel	Dinamo, Moscow
19:00 UTC+3	Radimov 8' Kosolapov 38'	Report		Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Gerd Grabher (Austria)

20 August 1997	Bulgaria	1–0	Israel	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia
20:00 UTC+3	Penev 65'	Report		Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Sándor Piller (Hungary)

Goalscorers

3 goals

Eli Ohana

2 goals

1 goal

2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 7 qualifying round, finishing in third place.^[34]

Standings

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts						Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Final table															Home							Away
1.	Spain	8	6	2	0	21	4	+17	20	-	4:0	2:0	4:1	5:0	4	4	0	0	15	1	12	4	2	2	0	6	3	8
2.	Austria	8	4	3	1	10	8	+2	15	1:1	-	2:1	2:0	2:0	4	3	1	0	7	2	10	4	1	2	1	3	6	5
3.	Israel	8	3	3	2	11	7	+4	12	1:1	1:1	-	3:1	2:0	4	2	2	0	7	3	8	4	1	1	2	4	4	4
4.	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8	2	2	4	12	12	0	8	1:2	1:1	0:0	-	5:0	4	1	2	1	7	3	5	4	1	0	3	5	9	3
5.	Liechtenstein	8	0	0	8	0	23	-23	0	0:2	0:1	0:3	0:3	-	4	0	0	4	0	9	0	4	0	0	4	0	14	0

Matches

3 September 2000	Israel	2–0	Liechtenstein	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:20 UTC+3	Mizrahi 1' Balili 80'	Report		Referee: Richard O'Hanlon (Ireland)

7 October 2000	Spain	2–0	Israel	Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid
21:30 UTC+2	Gerard 20' Hierro 54'	Report		Referee: Claude Colombo (France)

11 October 2000	Israel	3–1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
19:25 UTC+2	Berkovich 12' Abuksis 62' Katan 76'	Report	Akrapović 48'	Referee: Dick Jol (Netherlands)

28 March 2001	Austria	2–1	Israel	Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna
20:30 UTC+2	Baur 9' Herzog 42' (pen.)	Report	Baur 6' (o.g.)	Referee: Alfredo Trentalange (Italy)

2 June 2001	Liechtenstein	0–3	Israel	Rheinpark, Vaduz
19:00 UTC+2		Report	Revivo 3' Tal 7' Nimni 18'	Referee: Lassin Isaksen (Faroe Islands)

6 June 2001	Israel	1–1	Spain	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:00 UTC+3	Revivo 4'	Report	Raúl 63'	Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

1 September 2001	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–0	Israel	Koševo, Sarajevo
20:15 UTC+2		Report		Referee: Dieter Schoch (Switzerland)

27 October 2001	Israel	1–1	Austria	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
19:30 UTC+2	Gershon 55' (pen.)	Report	Herzog 90+1'	Referee: Vítor Melo Pereira (Portugal)

Goalscorers

2 goals

Haim Revivo

1 goal

2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 4 qualifying round, finishing in third place.

Standings

Legend
Group winners and two best runners-up among all groups directly qualified for the finals
Remaining group runners-up advanced to the play-offs

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	10	5	5	0	14	2	+12	20		0–0	0–0	0–0	4–0	3–0
Switzerland	10	4	6	0	18	7	+11	18	1–1		1–1	1–1	1–0	6–0
Israel	10	4	6	0	15	10	+5	18	1–1	2–2		1–1	2–1	2–1
Republic of Ireland	10	4	5	1	12	5	+7	17	0–1	0–0	2–2		3–0	2–0
Cyprus	10	1	1	8	8	20	−12	4	0–2	1–3	1–2	0–1		2–2
Faroe Islands	10	0	1	9	4	27	−23	1	0–2	1–3	0–2	0–2	0–3

Source: ^[35]

Matches

2004-09-04	France	0–0	Israel	Stade de France, Saint-Denis
21:00		(Report)		Attendance: 43,527 Referee: René Temmink (Netherlands)

2004-09-08	Israel	2–1	Cyprus	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:50	Benayoun 64' Badir 75'	(Report)	Konstantinou 59'	Attendance: 21,872 Referee: Sergey Shmolik (Belarus)

2004-10-09	Israel	2–2	Switzerland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:05	Benayoun 9', 48'	(Report)	Frei 26' Vonlanthen 34'	Attendance: 37,976 Referee: Mark Shield (Australia)

2004-11-17	Cyprus	1–2	Israel	GSP Stadium, Nicosia
19:00	Okkas 45'	(Report)	Keisi 17' Nimni 86'	Attendance: 1,624 Referee: Sten Kaldma (Estonia)

2005-03-26	Israel	1–1	Republic of Ireland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
19:50	Abbas Souan 90'	(Report)	Morrison 43'	Attendance: 32,150 Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

2005-03-30	Israel	1–1	France	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:50	Badir 83'	(Report)	Trezeguet 50'	Attendance: 32,150 Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

2005-06-04	Republic of Ireland	2–2	Israel	Lansdowne Road, Dublin
19:30	Harte 5' Keane 11'	(Report)	Avi Yehiel 39' Avi Nimni 45+1'	Attendance: 36,000 Referee: Kyros Vassaras (Greece)

2005-09-03	Switzerland	1–1	Israel	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
17:30	Frei 6'	(Report)	Keisi 20'	Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

2005-09-07	Faroe Islands	0–2	Israel	Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
18:00		(Report)	Nimni 54' Katan 79'	Attendance: 2,240 Referee: Pieter Vink (Netherlands)

2005-10-08	Israel	2–1	Faroe Islands	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
21:10	Benayoun 1' Zandberg 90+1'	(Report)	Samuelsen 90+3'	Attendance: 31,857 Referee: Bernhard Brugger (Austria)

Goalscorers

4 goals

Yossi Benayoun

3 goals

2 goals

Walid Badir

1 goal

2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group 2 qualifying round, finishing in fourth place.

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Switzerland	10	6	3	1	18	8	+10	21	Qualification to 2010 FIFA World Cup
2	Greece	10	6	2	2	20	10	+10	20	Advance to second round
3	Latvia	10	5	2	3	18	15	+3	17
4	Israel	10	4	4	2	20	10	+10	16
5	Luxembourg	10	1	2	7	4	25	−21	5
6	Moldova	10	0	3	7	6	18	−12	3

Source: ^[36]

Matches

The match schedule was established at a meeting in Israel on 8 January 2008.^[37]

6 September 2008	Israel	2–2	Switzerland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:55 UTC+3	Benayoun 73' Sahar 90+2'	Report	Yakin 45' Nkufo 56'	Attendance: 29,600 Referee: Martin Hansson (Sweden)

10 September 2008	Moldova	1–2	Israel	Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău
20:30 UTC+3	Picusceac 1'	Report	Golan 39' Saban 45'	Attendance: 10,500 Referee: César Muñiz Fernández (Spain)

11 October 2008	Luxembourg	1–3	Israel	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg
20:15 UTC+2	Peters 14'	Report	Benayoun 2' (pen.) Golan 54' Tuama 81'	Attendance: 3,562 Referee: Igor Egorov (Russia)

15 October 2008	Latvia	1–1	Israel	Skonto Stadions, Riga
19:00 UTC+3	Koļesņičenko 89'	Report	Benayoun 50'	Attendance: 7,100 Referee: Vladimír Hriňák (Slovakia)

28 March 2009	Israel	1–1	Greece	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
21:00 UTC+2	Golan 55'	Report	Gekas 42'	Attendance: 38,000 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

1 April 2009	Greece	2–1	Israel	Pankritio Stadium, Heraklion
21:30 UTC+3	Salpingidis 32' Samaras 67' (pen.)	Report	Barda 60'	Attendance: 22,794 Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

5 September 2009	Israel	0–1	Latvia	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
21:00 UTC+3		Report	Gorkšs 59'	Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Knut Kircher (Germany)

9 September 2009	Israel	7–0	Luxembourg	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
21:00 UTC+3	Barda 9', 21', 43' Baruchyan 15' Golan 58' Sahar 62', 84'	Report		Attendance: 7,038 Referee: Michael Svendsen (Denmark)

10 October 2009	Israel	3–1	Moldova	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
21:00 UTC+2	Barda 22', 70' Ben Dayan 65'	Report	Calincov 90+2'	Attendance: 8,700 Referee: Kevin Blom (Netherlands)

14 October 2009	Switzerland	0–0	Israel	St. Jakob-Park, Basel
20:00 UTC+2		Report		Attendance: 38,500 Referee: Alexandru Tudor (Romania)

Goalscorers
6 goals

Elyaniv Barda

4 goals

Omer Golan

3 goals

1 goal

Attendance

Team	Highest	Lowest	Average
Israel	38,000	7,038	20,668

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier

At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Israel competed in the UEFA Group F qualifying round, finishing in third place.

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	10	7	1	2	20	5	+15	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup	—	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	4–1
2	Portugal	10	6	3	1	20	9	+11	21	Advance to second round	1–0	—	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0
3	Israel	10	3	5	2	19	14	+5	14		0–4	3–3	—	1–1	1–1	3–0
4	Azerbaijan	10	1	6	3	7	11	−4	9		1–1	0–2	1–1	—	2–0	1–1
5	Northern Ireland	10	1	4	5	9	17	−8	7		1–0	2–4	0–2	1–1	—	1–1
6	Luxembourg	10	1	3	6	7	26	−19	6		0–4	1–2	0–6	0–0	3–2	—

Source: ^[38]

Winner qualified directly for the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Runner-up (ranked as one of the eight best runners-up among all nine groups) advanced to the play-offs

Matches

The match schedule was determined at a meeting in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, on 25 November 2011.^[39]^[40]

7 September 2012	Azerbaijan	1–1	Israel	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku
21:00 UTC+5	Abishov 65'	Report	Natcho 50'	Attendance: 22,211 Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

11 September 2012	Israel	0–4	Russia	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:00 UTC+3		Report	Kerzhakov 7', 64' Kokorin 18' Fayzulin 78'	Attendance: 28,131 Referee: Mark Clattenburg (England)

12 October 2012	Luxembourg	0–6	Israel	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg
21:00 UTC+2		Report	Radi 4' Ben Basat 12' Hemed 27', 74', 90+1' Melikson 61'	Attendance: 2,631 Referee: Leontios Trattou (Cyprus)

16 October 2012	Israel	3–0	Luxembourg	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
18:00 UTC+2	Hemed 13', 48' Ben Basat 35'	Report		Attendance: 20,400 Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)

22 March 2013	Israel	3–3	Portugal	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
14:45 UTC+2	Hemed 24' Ben Basat 40' Gershon 70'	Report	Alves 2' Postiga 72' Coentrão 90+3'	Attendance: 38,600 Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)

26 March 2013	Northern Ireland	0–2	Israel	Windsor Park, Belfast
19:45 UTC±0		Report	Refaelov 77' Ben Basat 84'	Attendance: 11,200 Referee: Hannes Kaasik (Estonia)

7 September 2013	Israel	1–1	Azerbaijan	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:45 UTC+3	Shechter 73'	Report	Amirguliyev 61'	Attendance: 21,250 Referee: Stefan Johannesson (Sweden)

10 September 2013	Russia	3–1	Israel	Petrovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg
19:00 UTC+4	V. Berezutski 49' Kokorin 52' Glushakov 74'	Report	Zahavi 90+3'	Attendance: 21,107 Referee: Manuel Gräfe (Germany)

11 October 2013	Portugal	1–1	Israel	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon
20:45 UTC+1	Costa 28'	Report	Ben Basat 85'	Attendance: 48,317 Referee: Tom Harald Hagen (Norway)

15 October 2013	Israel	1–1	Northern Ireland	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan
20:00 UTC+3	Ben Basat 43'	Report	Davis 72'	Attendance: 12,785 Referee: Laurent Duhamel (France)

Goalscorers

6 goals

1 goal

Record players

Ten players were fielded in all three of Israel's group matches in 1970 by coach Emmanuel Scheffer, making them record World Cup players for their country.

Rank	Player	Matches
1	Shraga Bar	3
	Yehoshua Feigenbaum	3
	David Primo	3
	Zvi Rosen	3
	Shmuel Rosenthal	3
	Yisha'ayahu Schwager	3
	Itzhak Shum	3
	Giora Spiegel	3
	Mordechai Spiegler	3
	Itzhak Vissoker	3

Goalscorers

Israel's sole international goal at a FIFA World Cup final-tournament was scored by team captain Mordechai Spiegler in their 1–1 draw against Sweden on 7 June 1970.

References

External links

Israel at FIFA.com
List of Israeli Matches at RSSSF

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Search

Israel at the FIFA World Cup

Contents

History

Record at the FIFA World Cup

By Match

Record by Opponent

1970 FIFA World Cup

1970 Qualifying Round

1970 Qualifying Round 1

1970 Qualifying Round 2

1970 Qualifying Final Round

1970 FIFA World Cup Group 2

Qualifier history

Record players

Goalscorers

See also

References

External links

v t e Israel national football team
General	Israel Football Association History Managers
Venues	Bloomfield Stadium Teddy Stadium Sammy Ofer Stadium Netanya Stadium Turner Stadium Ramat Gan Stadium (1954–2013) Maccabiah Stadium (1949–1950)
Statistics	Competition records FIFA World Cup AFC Asian Cup Olympics
Results	1934–1959 1960–1989 1990–2019 2020–present
Players	Squad International footballers Individual records
FIFA World Cup	1970
AFC Asian Cup	1956 1960 1964 1968
Matches	1940 friendly against Lebanon 1958 World Cup play-off against Wales 1990 World Cup play-off against Colombia
Related teams	Mandatory Palestine (1934–1940) U23 U21 U20 U19 U18 U17 U16 Women's U19 U17 Futsal Beach

v t e Countries at the FIFA World Cup
Team appearances All-time table
AFC	Australia² China Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Japan Kuwait North Korea Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea United Arab Emirates
CAF	Algeria Angola Cameroon DR Congo¹ Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Togo Tunisia
CONCACAF	Canada Costa Rica Cuba El Salvador Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States
CONMEBOL	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay
OFC	New Zealand
UEFA	Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic¹ Denmark East Germany³ England France Germany¹ Greece Hungary Iceland Israel² Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia¹ Scotland Serbia¹ Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). ² Have been member of multiple confederations. ³ Team and national federation no longer exist.