Mandatory Palestine national football team
The Mandatory Palestine national football team, also known as the Eretz Israel national football team (Hebrew: נבחרת ארץ ישראל בכדורגל, romanized: Nivheret Eretz Yisrael Bekhadurgel, lit. 'Land of Israel national football team'), represented the British Mandate of Palestine in international football competitions, and was managed by the Palestine Football Association (Hebrew: התאחדות ארץ ישראלית למשחק כדור-רגל, romanized: Hitachduth Eretz Yisraelit Lekhadur Regel, lit. 'The Land of Israel Association of Football').[lower-alpha 1]
1934–1940 | ||
---|---|---|
![]() | ||
Nickname(s) | Eretz Israel (Land of Israel) | |
Association | Palestine Football Association (PFA) | |
Head coach | Shimon Ratner (1934 WCQ) Egon Pollak (1938 WCQ) Arthur Baar (1940 Friendly) | |
Captain | Avraham Reznik (1934–1938) Pinhas Fiedler (1934) Gdalyahu Fuchs (1938) Werner Kaspi (1940) | |
Most caps | Gdalyahu Fuchs (4) | |
Top scorer | Werner Kaspi (2) | |
Home stadium | Hapoel Ground, Tel Aviv Maccabiah Stadium, Tel Aviv Maccabi Ground, Tel Aviv | |
FIFA code | PAL | |
| ||
First international | ||
![]() ![]() (Cairo, Egypt; 16 March 1934) | ||
Last international | ||
![]() ![]() (Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine; 27 April 1940) | ||
Biggest win | ||
![]() ![]() (Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine; 27 April 1940) | ||
Biggest defeat | ||
![]() ![]() (Cairo, Egypt; 16 March 1934) |
Founded in 1928, the Palestine Football Association became a member of FIFA in 1929. The team used to play in the Maccabiah Stadium and Hapoel Ground, both located in Tel Aviv. Mandatory Palestine played five official games (four FIFA World Cup qualifiers, and one friendly), before it officially became the national team of Israel in 1948.
History
![](../I/m/%D7%A0%D7%91%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%AA_%D7%90%D7%A8%D7%A5_%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C_%D7%91%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8_%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A8.jpg)
Football was introduced to Palestine by the British military during its occupation of the territory in World War I. After the war, the sport's development was continued by "European Jews who had been exposed to soccer in their native countries".[1] The Palestine Football Association was founded in August 1928 and applied for membership in FIFA. It was accepted to FIFA on 6 June 1929 as the Palestine Football Association, following an application by the Jewish Maccabi World Union.[2][3] It was the first of 14 sports organizations which absorbed hundreds of leading sportsmen who immigrated in the wake of antisemitism in Europe.[4]
By FIFA rules, the association had to represent all of Palestine's population, and it made formal claims to that effect. In practice, it was dominated by Jewish players and executives, despite Palestinian Arabs forming the majority of the population.[5]
According to Issam Khalidi, "the Jewish leadership" of the association systematically limited Arab participation by ensuring Jewish clubs constituted its majority, imposing Hebrew for official communication, and adding the Zionist flag in its logo.[6] Consequently, the Palestinian Arab players boycotted the national team and, in 1934, the Arab clubs left the association to form the General Palestinian Sports Association,[5] from which Jews were formally excluded.[7][lower-alpha 2]
Mandatory Palestine played five international games before the end of the British Mandate in 1948 which resulted in Israel's independence.[9] During those five games, the national team fielded only Jewish players. Three anthems were played before each match: the British "God Save the King", the Jewish (and future Israeli) "Hatikvah" and the opposing team's anthem.[10]
In 1948 the team became, officially, the national team of Israel.
Players
1934 FIFA World Cup qualification
Coaches:
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GK | Willy Berger | ![]() | ||||
DF | Avraham Reznik | ![]() | ||||
DF | Pinhas Fiedler | ![]() | ||||
MF | Zalman Friedmann | ![]() | ||||
MF | Gdalyahu Fuchs | ![]() | ||||
MF | Yohanan Sukenik | ![]() | ||||
FW | Amnon Harlap | ![]() | ||||
FW | Avraham Nudelman | ![]() | ||||
Perry Kraus | ![]() | |||||
Paul Kastenbaum | ![]() | |||||
Haim Reich | ![]() | |||||
David Weinberg | ![]() | |||||
Yaacov Levi-Meir | ![]() | |||||
Yaacov Zelibanski | ![]() |
1938 FIFA World Cup qualification
Coach:
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | GK | Julius Klein | ![]() | |||
GK | Israel Elsner | ![]() | ||||
2 | DF | Avraham Beit-Halevi | ![]() | |||
3 | DF | Avraham Reznik (Captain) | ![]() | |||
4 | MF | Yosef Liebermann | ![]() | |||
5 | MF | Yohanan Sukenik | ![]() | |||
6 | MF | Menahem Mirmovich | ![]() | |||
MF | Gdalyahu Fuchs | ![]() | ||||
7 | FW | Shmuel "Mila" Ginzburg | ![]() | |||
8 | FW | Shuka Brashedski | ![]() | |||
9 | FW | Peri Neufeld | ![]() | |||
10 | FW | Gaul Machlis | ![]() | |||
11 | FW | Avraham Nudelman | ![]() | |||
FW | Yona Stern | ![]() | ||||
FW | Jerry Beit-Halevi | ![]() | ||||
FW | Nathan Pentzi | ![]() |
1940 friendly
Coach:
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GK | Binyamin Mizrahi | ![]() | ||||
GK | Asi Asher | ![]() | ||||
DF | Shalom Shalomzon | ![]() | ||||
DF | Yaacov Breir | ![]() | ||||
DF | Lonia Dvorin | ![]() | ||||
MF | Zalman "Dzampa" Friedmann | ![]() | ||||
MF | Zvi Fuchs | ![]() | ||||
MF | Haim Reich | ![]() | ||||
FW | Herbert Meitner | ![]() | ||||
FW | Zvi "Doctor" Erlich | ![]() | ||||
FW | Werner Kaspi (Captain) | ![]() | ||||
FW | Avraham Schneiderowitz | ![]() | ||||
FW | Gaul Machlis | ![]() | ||||
FW | Peri Neufeld | ![]() |
FIFA World Cup record
Mandatory Palestine's FIFA World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Host nation(s) and year |
Round | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Squad | Outcome | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
![]() |
Did not participate | Did not participate | |||||||||||||||
![]() |
Did not qualify | 2nd of 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11 | |||||||||
![]() |
2nd of 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||||
1950–present | See Israel national football team | See Israel national football team | |||||||||||||||
Total | Best: N/A | 0/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Total | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 15 |
Results
16 March 1934 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification | Egypt ![]() | 7–1 | ![]() | Cairo, Egypt |
Report |
|
Stadium: British Army Ground Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Stanley Wells (England) |
6 April 1934 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification | Mandatory Palestine ![]() | 1–4 | ![]() | Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine |
|
Report | Stadium: Hapoel Ground Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Frederick John Goodsby (England) |
22 January 1938 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification | Mandatory Palestine ![]() | 1–3 | ![]() | Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine |
|
Report | Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Mohammed Youssef (Egypt) |
20 February 1938 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification | Greece ![]() | 1–0 | ![]() | Athens, Greece |
Vikelidis ![]() |
Report | Stadium: Stadio Leoforos Alexandras Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Mika Popović (Yugoslavia) |
27 April 1940 Friendly | Mandatory Palestine ![]() | 5–1 | ![]() | Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine |
16:00 UTC+3 |
|
Report |
|
Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: John Blackwell (England) |
See also
Notes
- According to the Israel Football Association, the name of the association was "Eretz Israel Football Association".[1]
- Richard Henshaw's encyclopaedia also noted that "Islamic beliefs throughout the Arab world resisted Western cultural institutions such as soccer until well after World War II, by which time Arab participation in the development of Israeli soccer was nearly impossible."[8]
References
- Henshaw 1979, p. 387.
- Foundation and Affiliation year in Association Information of Israel at FIFA official website
- Foundation and FIFA affiliation years on association information of Israel at UEFA website
- Griver, Simon (June 1999). "Sports in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- Sorek 2003, p. 417–437.
- Khalidi, Issam (Spring 2014). "Sports and Aspirations: Football in Palestine, 1900–1948" (PDF). Jerusalem Quarterly (58). pp. 74–89. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
Immediately after being accepted into FIFA, the Jewish leadership of the PFA set about ensuring a majority of Jewish clubs in its membership. The Hebrew language was imposed and the Zionist flag incorporated into the federation’s logo. By 1934, the dominance of Zionist officials meant that Arab clubs had no say in the running of the association, despite Arabs comprising over three-quarters of Palestine’s population.
- Mendel, Yoni (1 May 2015). "The Palestinian soccer league: A microcosm of a national struggle". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- Henshaw 1979, p. 386.
- Cazal, Jean-Michel; Bleicher, Yaniv. "British Mandate of Palestine Official Games 1934–1948". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- Mubarak, Hassanin. "Palestine – International Results – Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
- Cazal, Jean-Michel; Bleicher, Yaniv. "British Mandate of Palestine Official Games 1934–1948". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
Bibliography
- Henshaw, Richard (1979). The Encyclopedia of World Soccer. Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books. ISBN 0-915220-34-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Sorek, Tamir (2003). "Palestinian Nationalism Has Left the Field: A Shortened History of Arab Soccer in Israel". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 35 (3): 417–437. doi:10.1017/S0020743803000175. JSTOR 3880202.