Israel national under-21 football team

Israel Under-21
Association	Israel Football Association
Head coach	Nir Levine
Captain	Neta Lavi
Most caps	Arik Benado (39)[1]
Top scorer	Alon Mizrahi (15)[2]
FIFA code	ISR
First colours	Second colours
First international
	Greece 2–2 Israel ; (Greece; 1990)
Biggest win
	Israel 6–0 Austria ; (Israel)
Biggest defeat
	Israel 0–4 Spain ; (Israel) ; Israel 0–4 Italy ; (Israel; 2013)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	2 (first in 2007)
Best result	Group Stage, 3rd Place

Israel's national Under-21 team (Hebrew: הנבחרת הצעירה של ישראל בכדורגל‎) is considered to be the feeder team for the Israel national football team. It has recently qualified for the European Championships to be held in the Netherlands after beating the French under-21 team 2–1 on aggregate.

This team consists of Israeli players aged 21 or under at the start of each two-year UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Team members may also simultaneously qualify to various teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s, or even the senior national team, so long as the meet the respective age restriction. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (provided the player is eligible).

The U-21 team has been constructed, following the Israel's acceptance as a full member of UEFA. A draw in a qualifier against Greece in Greece was Israel U-21s' first result.

Israel U-21s do not have a permanent home. They play in stadia dotted all around Israel in an attempt to encourage fans in all areas of the country to get behind Israel. Because of the lack of appeal compared to the senior national team, smaller grounds are used (such as HaMoshava Stadium).

Competition History

There is no Under-21 World Cup, although there is an Under-20 World Cup. European U-21 teams compete for the European Championship, with the finals every even-numbered year. It will be held in odd-numbered years from 2007. Israel has never fared well in European Under-21 Football Championships.

The current campaign started shortly after the 2006 finals - the qualification stage of the 2007 competition. UEFA have decided to shift the next tournament forward to avoid a clash with senior tournaments taking place in even-numbered years. The competition has therefore been reduced as qualifying must be completed in a year's less time. In their three-team qualification group, Israel finished ahead of Turkey and Wales. In the two-legged play-off against France for a place in the final stage, the team achieved a surprising 1–1 draw in France and won the home match 1–0, with Amir Taga scoring in stoppage time.

Note: The year of the tournament represents the year in which it ends.

Competitive Record

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Record

Israel national under-21 football team at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1992	Qualifying Stage	6	3	2	0	17	3
1994	Qualifying Stage	10	3	1	6	17	16
1996	Qualifying Stage	10	3	3	4	12	11
1998	Qualifying Stage	8	5	2	1	17	9
2000	Qualifying Stage	8	2	2	4	6	13
2002	Qualifying Stage	8	4	0	4	16	13
2004	Qualifying Stage	8	3	1	4	6	11
2006	Qualifying Stage	8	4	3	1	11	7
2007	Group Stage	5	1	1	3	3	8
2009	Qualification Playoffs	8	5	2	1	16	5
2011	Qualifying Stage	8	5	1	2	18	8
2013	Group Stage	3	1	1	1	3	6
2015	Qualifying Stage	8	5	0	3	22	15
2017	Qualifying Stage	10	6	3	1	21	4
2019	TBA	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2/14	88	39	18	34	146	106

Players

Top Appearances

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Caps
1	Arik Benado	Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem	1992–1995	39
2	Nir Sivilia	Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bnei Yehuda, Beitar Jerusalem	1993–1997	34
2	Shay Holtzman	Maccabi Netanya, Maccabi Haifa, Tzafririm Holon	1992–1995	34
3	Dekel Keinan	Maccabi Haifa, Bnei Sakhnin, Maccabi Netanya	2003–2007	30
4	Alon Halfon	Maccabi Netanya, Hapoel Haifa	1993–1995	29
4	Tom Almadon	Maccabi Haifa	2004–2007	29
5	Ofer Talker	Ironi Ashdod, Hapoel Haifa	1992–1995	28
6	Ofir Kopel	Maccabi Haifa	1994–1997	27
7	Lior Jan	Maccabi Tel Aviv	2006–2008	26
8	Moshe Ohayon	F.C. Ashdod	2001–2005	24

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

Top Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Year(s)	U-21 Goals
1	Alon Mizrahi	Bnei Yehuda	1992–1993	15
2	Shay Holtzman	Maccabi Netanya, Maccabi Haifa, Tzafririm Holon	1992–1995	14
3	Mu'nas Dabbur	Maccabi Tel Aviv, Grasshopper	2011–2014	13
4	Nir Sivilia	Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bnei Yehuda, Beitar Jerusalem	1993–1997	12
5	Ben Sahar	Chelsea, Espanyol	2007–2010	8
5	Maor Buzaglo	Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Petah Tikva, Bnei Sakhnin, Maccabi Tel Aviv	2007–2010	8
6	Eli Abarbanel	Hapoel Petah Tikva	1994–1999	7
6	Amir Turgeman	Ironi Ashdod	1992–1993	7

Note: Club(s) represents the permanent clubs during the player's time in the Under-21s.

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification Group 6

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	10	9	1	0	20	1	+19	28	Final tournament	—	3–0	3–0	3–0	2–0	2–0
2	North Macedonia	10	5	3	2	20	12	+8	18		0–1	—	1–1	1–1	7–1	2–1
3	Israel	10	3	4	3	12	14	−2	13		1–1	1–1	—	1–2	3–1	0–0
4	Kazakhstan	10	3	1	6	12	21	−9	10		0–1	1–4	1–2	—	2–3	0–4
5	Faroe Islands	10	3	0	7	11	25	−14	9		0–2	1–2	3–1	1–3	—	1–0
6	Montenegro	10	2	1	7	11	13	−2	7		0–2	1–2	1–2	1–2	3–0	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Manager	Marco Balbul
Assistant Manager	Ofer Fabian
Assistant Manager	Alon Hazan
Goalkeeper Coach	Nir Davidovich
Fitness Coach	Yossi Kakun

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against North Macedonia on 12 November & Spain on 17 November 2020.

Caps and goals as of 18 November 2020.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Assaf Tzur	(1998-08-28) 28 August 1998	15	0	Anorthosis
23	1GK	Omer Nir'on	(2001-04-17) 17 April 2001	0	0	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv

2	2DF	Noam Cohen	(1999-01-06) 6 January 1999	7	0	Hapoel Hadera
3	2DF	Yahav Gurfinkel	(1998-06-27) 27 June 1998	14	0	Maccabi Haifa
4	2DF	Or Blorian	(2000-03-07) 7 March 2000	5	0	Maccabi Petah Tikva
13	2DF	Danny Gruper	(1999-03-16) 16 March 1999	8	0	Hapoel Tel Aviv
15	2DF	Ofri Arad	(1998-09-11) 11 September 1998	11	2	Maccabi Haifa
17	2DF	Gil Cohen	(2000-11-08) 8 November 2000	6	0	F.C. Ashdod
21	2DF	Amit Cohen	(1998-11-21) 21 November 1998	9	0	Bnei Yehuda
	2DF	Fadi Najar	(1998-05-30) 30 May 1998	1	0	Bnei Yehuda

6	3MF	Samuel Broun	(1998-03-03) 3 March 1998	9	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
7	3MF	Eden Karzev	(2000-04-11) 11 April 2000	11	1	Maccabi Tel Aviv
8	3MF	Tomer Altman	(1998-02-08) 8 February 1998	8	0	Hapoel Haifa
11	3MF	Shay Elias	(1999-02-25) 25 February 1999	6	1	Hapoel Tel Aviv
12	3MF	Omer Lakou	(1998-02-07) 7 February 1998	11	0	Hapoel Hadera
14	3MF	Tomer Yosefi	(1999-02-02) 2 February 1999	11	3	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
16	3MF	Ido Shahar	(2001-08-20) 20 August 2001	3	0	Hapoel Haifa
22	3MF	Osher Davida	(2001-02-18) 18 February 2001	2	0	Hapoel Tel Aviv

9	4FW	Tai Baribo	(1998-01-15) 15 January 1998	13	2	Maccabi Petah Tikva
10	4FW	Eylon Almog	(1999-01-08) 8 January 1999	13	3	Maccabi Tel Aviv
19	4FW	Yonas Malede	(1999-11-14) 14 November 1999	7	1	Gent
20	4FW	Liel Abada	(2001-10-03) 3 October 2001	5	0	Maccabi Petah Tikva

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months:

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Haviv Ohayon	(1998-08-17) 17 August 1998	2	0	Hapoel Hadera	v. Georgia, 26 March 2019
GK	Daniel Peretz	(2000-07-10) 10 July 2000	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
GK	Omer Hanin	(1998-08-17) 17 August 1998	0	0	Mainz 05	v. Kazakhstan, 10 September 2019
GK	Omer Katz	(1998-04-21) 21 April 1998	0	0	Hapoel Petah Tikva	v. Kazakhstan, 10 September 2019
GK	Netanel Daloya	(1998-07-14) 14 July 1998	0	0	Beitar Jerusalem	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020

DF	Manamto Asefa	(1998-11-19) 19 November 1998	2	0	F.C. Ashdod	v. Slovenia, 31 May 2018
DF	Yarin Peretz	(1998-07-17) 17 July 1998	2	0	Karmiotissa	v. Kazakhstan, 10 September 2019
DF	Yonatan Levi	(1998-01-02) 2 January 1998	2	0	Maccabi Haifa	v. Faroe Islands, 14 October 2019
DF	Omri Luzon	(1999-01-07) 7 January 1999	2	0	Reading	v. Spain, 19 November 2019
DF	Raz Shlomo	(1999-08-13) 13 August 1999	4	0	Hapoel Tel Aviv	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020
DF	Uri Dahan	(1999-12-07) 7 December 1999	1	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020

MF	Mohammad Abu Fani	(1998-04-27) 27 April 1998	8	0	Maccabi Haifa	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
MF	Ben Savir	(1998-03-05) 5 March 1998	4	0	Hapoel Ra'anana	v. Faroe Islands, 14 October 2019
MF	Shay Golan	(1998-01-17) 17 January 1998	3	0	Hapoel Petah Tikva	v. Faroe Islands, 14 October 2019
MF	Ilay Elmkies	(2000-03-10) 10 March 2000	2	0	ADO Den Haag	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
MF	Arad Bar	(2000-01-29) 29 January 2000	0	0	Maccabi Petah Tikva	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
MF	Or Dasa	(1998-09-20) 20 September 1998	15	1	Hapoel Kfar Saba	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020
MF	Hamoudi Kna'an	(2000-01-14) 14 January 2000	2	0	F.C. Ashdod	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020

FW	Manor Solomon	(1999-07-24) 24 July 1999	3	0	Shakhtar Donetsk	v. Slovenia, 31 May 2018
FW	Yoav Tomer	(1998-01-17) 17 January 1998	3	0	Hapoel Ra'anana	v. Spain, 19 November 2019
FW	Ron Ashkenazi	(1998-01-15) 15 January 1998	3	0	Maccabi Netanya	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
FW	Roi Ben Shimon	(2000-12-04) 4 December 2000	1	0	Bnei Yehuda	v. Kazakhstan, 8 September 2020
FW	Osama Khalaila	(1998-04-06) 6 April 1998	6	0	Bnei Sakhnin	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020
FW	Itamar Shviro	(1998-06-17) 17 June 1998	1	1	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	v. North Macedonia, 18 October 2020

References

External links

Uefa Under-21 website Contains full results archive
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21 Championship hosts and additional statistics, such as the Group Winners table for the 1998 qualifiers.

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[1] ttp://football.org.il/NationalTeam/Pages/NationalTeamAppearance.aspx?NATIONAL_TEAM_ID=943&PAGE_NUM=1

[2] ttp://football.org.il/NationalTeam/Pages/NationalTeamCaptivate.aspx?NATIONAL_TEAM_ID=943&PAGE_NUM=1