Mandatory Palestine national football team

Mandatory Palestine
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	Palms Stadium, Tel Aviv; Maccabiah Stadium, Tel Aviv
FIFA code	PAL
	First colours
	First colours
First international
	Egypt 7–1 Mandatory Palestine ; (Cairo, Egypt; 16 March 1934)
Last international
	Mandatory Palestine 5–1 Lebanon ; (Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine; 27 April 1940)
Biggest win
	Mandatory Palestine 5–1 Lebanon ; (Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine; 27 April 1940)
Biggest defeat
	Egypt 7–1 Mandatory Palestine ; (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 organization 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 organization at a time when Jews represented a small minority of the country's population. In 1934 all Arabs involved in the organization left, as they considered they were being used as a "fig leaf".[2]

The team used to play in the Maccabiah Stadium and Palms Stadium, 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

Mandatory Palestine during its tour in Egypt in 1931.

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 organizations 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]

Players

1934 FIFA World Cup qualification

Coaches: Egon Pollak and Shimon Ratner[12]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	1GK	Willy Berger

	2DF	Avraham Reznik
	2DF	Pinhas Fiedler

	3MF	Zalman Friedmann
	3MF	Gdalyahu Fuchs
	3MF	Yohanan Sukenik

	4FW	Amnon Harlap
	4FW	Avraham Nudelman

		Perry Kraus
		Paul Kastenbaum
		Haim Reich
		David Weinberg
		Yaacov Levi-Meir
		Yaacov Zelibanski

1938 FIFA World Cup qualification

Coach: Egon Pollak[12]

No.	Pos.	Player
1	1GK	Julius Klein
	1GK	Israel Elsner

2	2DF	Avraham Beit-Halevi
3	2DF	Avraham Reznik (Captain)

4	3MF	Yosef Liebermann
5	3MF	Yohanan Sukenik
6	3MF	Menahem Mirmovich
	3MF	Gdalyahu Fuchs

7	4FW	Shmuel "Mila" Ginzburg
8	4FW	Shuka Brashedski
9	4FW	Peri Neufeld
10	4FW	Gaul Machlis
11	4FW	Avraham Nudelman
	4FW	Yona Stern
	4FW	Jerry Beit-Halevi
	4FW	Nathan Pentzi

1940 friendly

Coach: Arthur Baar[12]

Pos.	Player	Club
1GK	Binyamin Mizrahi	Beitar Tel Aviv
1GK	Asi Asher	Hakoah Tel Aviv

2DF	Shalom Shalomzon	Maccabi Tel Aviv
2DF	Yaacov Breir	Hapoel Haifa
2DF	Lonia Dvorin	Beitar Tel Aviv

3MF	Zalman "Dzampa" Friedmann	Hapoel Tel Aviv
3MF	Zvi Fuchs	Maccabi Tel Aviv
3MF	Haim Reich	Hapoel Tel Aviv

4FW	Herbert Meitner	Hapoel Rishon
4FW	Zvi "Doctor" Erlich	Hapoel Tel Aviv
4FW	Werner Kaspi (Captain)	Beitar Tel Aviv
4FW	Avraham Schneiderowitz	Maccabi Nes Tziona
4FW	Gaul Machlis	Maccabi Tel Aviv
4FW	Peri Neufeld	Maccabi Tel Aviv

FIFA World Cup record

Host nation(s) and year	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad	Outcome	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Mandatory Palestine's FIFA World Cup record										Qualification record
1930	Did not participate									Did not participate
1934	Did not qualify									2nd of 2	2	0	0	2	2	11
1938	Did not qualify									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	Mandatory Palestine	Cairo, Egypt
	Mokhtar 11', 35', 51' Taha 21', 79' Latif 43', 87'	Report	Nudelman 61'	Stadium: British Army Ground Attendance: 13,000 Referee: Stanley Wells (England)

6 April 1934 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification	Mandatory Palestine	1–4	Egypt	Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
	Sukenik 54'	Report	Latif 2' Mokhtar 7', 22' Fawzi 35'	Stadium: Palms Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Frederick John Goodsby (England)

22 January 1938 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification	Mandatory Palestine	1–3	Greece	Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
	Neufeld 36'	Report	Vikelidis 15', 30' Migiakis 73'	Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Mohammed Youssef (Egypt)

20 February 1938 1938 FIFA World Cup qualification	Greece	1–0	Mandatory Palestine	Athens, Greece
	Vikelidis 88' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadio Leoforos Alexandras Attendance: 12,000 Referee: Mika Popović (Yugoslavia)

27 April 1940 Friendly	Mandatory Palestine	5–1	Lebanon	Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
16:00 UTC+3	Meitner 2' Schneiderovitz 11' (p) Machlis 32' Kaspi 40', 60'	Report	Cordahi 50'	Stadium: Maccabiah Stadium Attendance: 10,000 Referee: John Blackwell (England)

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.
Mendel, Yoni (1 May 2015). "The Palestinian soccer league: A microcosm of a national struggle". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 14 May 2020. 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.
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.
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.
"Statistical Kit: Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil" (PDF). The AFC. 28 June 2011. p. 53. Retrieved 21 December 2020. 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.
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.
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.

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[2] According to the Israel Football Association, the name of the association was "Eretz Israel Football Association".[1]

[10] 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]

[FOOTNOTEHenshaw1979387-1] Henshaw 1979, p. 387.

[972m-3] Mendel, Yoni (1 May 2015). "The Palestinian soccer league: A microcosm of a national struggle". +972 Magazine. Retrieved 14 May 2020. 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.

[4] Foundation and Affiliation year in Association Information of Israel at FIFA official website

[5] Foundation and FIFA affiliation years on association information of Israel at UEFA website

[6] Griver, Simon (June 1999). "Sports in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

[FOOTNOTESorek2003417–437-7] Sorek 2003, p. 417–437.

[8] 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.

[FOOTNOTEHenshaw1979386-9] Henshaw 1979, p. 386.

[11] Cazal, Jean-Michel; Bleicher, Yaniv. "British Mandate of Palestine Official Games 1934–1948". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

[12] Mubarak, Hassanin. "Palestine – International Results – Details". RSSSF. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

[13] "Statistical Kit: Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil" (PDF). The AFC. 28 June 2011. p. 53. Retrieved 21 December 2020. 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.

[squad-14] Cazal, Jean-Michel; Bleicher, Yaniv. "British Mandate of Palestine Official Games 1934–1948". RSSSF. Retrieved 14 May 2020.

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