The Paris Olympics open on Friday, July 26. For the first time since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Israel will compete in the Olympic soccer tournament (the team’s first game is against Mali on July 24).
Soccer (known as football outside North America) was introduced to Israel in the 1910s and was popularized by the British during the Mandate period starting in the 1920s. The British army organized its own soccer teams which inspired the establishment of Jewish teams. The Eretz Yisrael Football Association was formed in 1928 and became affiliated with FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, in 1929.
In 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel was proclaimed, the Eretz Israel “national team” played two World Cup qualifying matches against Egypt, losing both. This photograph from a series of trading cards included in Dubek cigarettes is a scene from a 1935 match in Tel Aviv between the national team and “Arsenal” Cairo.
The national team also lost two World Cup qualifying matches in 1938 against Greece, but in 1940 the team did win a friendly match against Lebanon 5-1.
Israel actually qualified for the 1958 World Cup because every team it was scheduled to play against in the qualifying rounds (Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia and Sudan) refused to play the team from the Jewish state. However, a FIFA rule required each team other than the host country to play and win at least one match and so Israel was forced to play a two-game playoff match against Wales, which it lost.
Israel finally qualified for the World Cup in 1970 and finished 12th in the 16-team tournament (tying Uruguay and Sweden, and losing to Italy).
Both times Israel competed in the Olympics (1968 in Mexico and in 1976) it reached the quarterfinals. Let’s hope Israel does as well, or even better, this year.
