1934–1940 | ||
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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 | Palms Ground Maccabi Ground Maccabiah Stadium | |
FIFA code | PAL | |
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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) |
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]
The team was founded in 1928 by Yosef Yekutieli, leader of the Jewish sports organisation Maccabi World Union, under the newly formed "Palestine Football Association", so-named in order to qualify for membership of FIFA (which required teams to be representative of the population of their country). It achieved FIFA membership in 1929, despite in practice being an almost exclusively Jewish organisation at a time when Jews represented a small minority of the country's population. In 1934 all Arabs involved in the organisation left, as they considered they were being used as a "fig leaf".[2]
The team used to play in the Maccabiah Stadium, Maccabi Ground and Palms Ground, all three 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.
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.[3][4] It was the first of 14 sports organisations which absorbed hundreds of leading sportsmen who immigrated in the wake of antisemitism in Europe.[5]
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.[6]
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.[7] 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.[2][6][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 officially became the national team of Israel.[11]
Coaches: Egon Pollak and
Shimon Ratner[12]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
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1GK | Willy Berger | ![]() | ||||
2DF | Pinhas Fiedler | ![]() | ||||
2DF | Avraham Reznik (Captain) | ![]() | ||||
2DF | David Weinberg | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Zalman Friedmann | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Gdalyahu Fuchs | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Paul Kastenbaum | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Perry Kraus | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Haim Reich | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Yohanan Sukenik | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Amnon Harlap | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Avraham Nudelman | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Yaacov Zelibanski | ![]() | ||||
Yaacov Levi-Meir | ![]() |
Coach: Egon Pollak[12]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
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1 | 1GK | Julius Klein | ![]() | |||
1 | 1GK | Israel Elsner [he] | ![]() | |||
2 | 2DF | Avraham Beit haLevi | ![]() | |||
3 | 2DF | Avraham Reznik (Captain) | ![]() | |||
4 | 3MF | Yosef Libermann | ![]() | |||
5 | 3MF | Gdalyahu Fuchs | ![]() | |||
5 | 3MF | Yohanan Sukenik | ![]() | |||
6 | 3MF | Menahem Mirmovich | ![]() | |||
7 | 4FW | Mila Ginzburg | ![]() | |||
8 | 4FW | Shuka Brashedski | ![]() | |||
8 | 4FW | Yona Stern | ![]() | |||
9 | 4FW | Peri Neufeld | ![]() | |||
10 | 4FW | Jerry Beit haLevi | ![]() | |||
10 | 4FW | Gaul Machlis | ![]() | |||
11 | 4FW | Avraham Nudelman | ![]() | |||
11 | 4FW | Natan Panz | ![]() |
Coach: Arthur Baar[12]
No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1GK | Binyamin Mizrahi | ![]() | ||||
1GK | Asi Asher | ![]() | ||||
2DF | Shalom Shalomzon | ![]() | ||||
2DF | Yaacov Breir | ![]() | ||||
2DF | Lonia Dvorin | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Zalman "Dzampa" Friedmann | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Zvi Fuchs | ![]() | ||||
3MF | Haim Reich | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Herbert Meitner | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Zvi "Doctor" Erlich | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Werner Kaspi (Captain) | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Avraham Schneiderowitz | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Gaul Machlis | ![]() | ||||
4FW | Peri Neufeld | ![]() |
Mandatory Palestine's FIFA World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Host(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 |
16 March 1934 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification | Egypt ![]() | 7–1 | ![]() | Cairo, Egypt |
Report |
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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 |
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Report | Stadium: Palms 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 |
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Report | Stadium: Maccabi Ground 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 |
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Report |
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Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: John Blackwell (England) |
The result was the birth of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) and the launch of the local league. It was not particularly equitable: Nine Jewish clubs and one British club (that of the British police) participated in the champions league, while the Arab clubs played only in the secondary league. Neither was the representation in the federation exceptionally fair: among the 15 members of the federation, 14 were Jewish and only one, the Jerusalemite referee Ibrahim Nusseibeh, was Arab. The inaugural meeting of the PFA, in 1928, was the first and last meeting which Nusseibeh attended. In 1934, in keeping with the prevailing segragationist trends in the country, the Arab football clubs decided they refuse to continue being the fig leaf within the framework of an overwhelmingly Jewish league, and left. A parallel, exclusively Arab football league was established a year later.
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.
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.
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General |
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Statistics |
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Results |
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Players |
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FIFA World Cup |
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AFC Asian Cup |
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Related teams |
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Domestic leagues |
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Defunct competitions |
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National teams |
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Related to national team |
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International tournaments |
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Other articles |
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Mandatory Palestine articles | |||||
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Defunct and altered national football teams | |
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Recognised as defunct by FIFA | |
Teams whose names and borders both differ from the present | |
Defunct but unrecognised by FIFA | |
For teams that have undergone name changes but no border alterations see here For teams that have undergone border changes but no name alterations see here |