Israel national under-21 football team

Israel Under-21
הנבחרת הצעירה

Association

Israel Football Association

Head coach

Marco Balbul

Captain

Ataa Jaber

Most caps

Arik Benado (39)^[1]

Top scorer

Alon Mizrahi (15)^[2]

Home stadium

Ness Ziona Stadium

FIFA code

ISR

First colours

Second colours

First international

Greece U-21 2-2 Israel U-21

(Greece; 1990)

Biggest win

Israel U-21 6-0 Austria U-21

(Israel)

Biggest defeat

Israel U-21 0-4 Spain U-21

(Israel)

Israel U-21 0-4 Italy U-21

(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 is for Israeli players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U-21s, senior side and again for the U-21s, as Shlomi Arbeitman has done recently. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (providing the player is eligible).

The U-21 team came into existence, 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	1	1	0	0	7	2
Total	2/13	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	Moanes Dabour	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.

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification Group 4

Main article: 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portugal	10	8	2	0	34	5	+29	26	Final tournament
2	Israel	10	6	3	1	21	4	+17	21
3	Greece	10	4	1	5	13	14	−1	13
4	Albania	10	3	3	4	11	20	−9	12
5	Hungary	10	3	3	4	19	16	+3	12
6	Liechtenstein	10	0	0	10	1	40	−39	0

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Fixtures

Liechtenstein v Israel

7 June 2015
18:00

Liechtenstein	0–4	Israel
	Report	Kinda 5' Altman 49', 62' Abu Abaid 58'

Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz
Referee: Giorgi Kruashvili (Georgia)

Albania v Israel

3 September 2015
15:00

Albania	1–1	Israel
Çekiçi 84' (pen.)	Report	Hugi 29'

Qemal Stafa Stadium, Tirana
Referee: Sergei Ivanov (Russia)

Israel v Hungary

12 November 2015
18:45

Israel	3–0	Hungary
David 60' Gozlan 85' Ohana 90+2'	Report

HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva
Referee: Jari Järvinen (Finland)

Israel v Portugal

17 November 2015
18:40

Israel	0–3	Portugal
	Report	Fernandes 28' (pen.) Silva 35' Horta 87'

HaMoshava Stadium, Petah Tikva
Referee: Ola Hobber Nilsen (Norway)

Hungary v Israel

24 March 2016
19:00

Hungary	0–0	Israel
	Report

Ménfői út, Győr
Referee: Vilhjalmur Thorarinsson (Iceland)

Greece v Israel

28 March 2016
15:30

Greece	0–1	Israel
	Report	Gozlan 74'

Peristeri Stadium, Peristeri
Referee: Tihomir Pejin (Croatia)

Portugal v Israel

2 September 2016

Portugal	v	Israel
	Report

Israel v Liechtenstein

6 September 2016

Israel	v	Liechtenstein
	Report

Israel v Greece

6 October 2016

Israel	v	Greece
	Report

Israel v Albania

10 October 2016

Israel	v	Albania
	Report

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 named in the squad for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification match against Greece and Albania.

Caps and goals as of 3 June 2016.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club

1	1GK	Golan Elkaslasy	(1994-01-19) 19 January 1994	11	0	Hapoel Ramat HaSharon
18	1GK	Omri Glazer	(1996-03-11) 11 March 1996	2	0	Maccabi Haifa
23	1GK	Yarden Krishtul	(1994-10-19) 19 October 1994	1	0	Hapoel Acre

2	2DF	Sean Goldberg	(1995-06-13) 13 June 1995	8	0	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv
3	2DF	Oren Biton	(1994-06-16) 16 June 1994	4	1	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
4	2DF	Ayid Habshi	(1995-05-10) 10 May 1995	14	0	Maccabi Haifa
15	2DF	Liran Serdal	(1994-07-02) 2 July 1994	5	0	Hapoel Haifa
17	2DF	Shahar Piven	(1995-09-21) 21 September 1995	0	0	Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla

5	3MF	David Keltjens	(1995-06-11) 11 June 1995	6	0	Beitar Jerusalem
6	3MF	Dor Peretz	(1995-05-11) 11 May 1995	9	1	Maccabi Tel Aviv
7	3MF	Maxim Plakuschenko	(1996-01-04) 4 January 1996	5	1	Hapoel Haifa
8	3MF	Neta Lavi	(1996-08-25) 25 August 1996	5	0	Maccabi Haifa
9	3MF	Michael Ohana	(1995-10-04) 4 October 1995	8	4	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
11	3MF	Or Inbrom	(1996-01-12) 12 January 1996	3	0	F.C. Ashdod
12	3MF	Tambi Sagas	(1995-10-21) 21 October 1995	5	0	Bnei Sakhnin
14	3MF	Ido Davidov	(1994-11-23) 23 November 1994	7	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
16	3MF	Eliel Peretz	(1996-11-18) 18 November 1996	4	1	Maccabi Tel Aviv
19	3MF	Eden Shamir	(1995-06-25) 25 June 1995	1	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona
20	3MF	Omri Altman	(1994-03-23) 23 March 1994	18	8	Hapoel Tel Aviv
21	3MF	Moti Barshazki	(1996-09-06) 6 September 1996	2	1	Hapoel Ramat Gan

10	4FW	Shoval Gozlan	(1994-04-25) 25 April 1994	13	5	Maccabi Haifa
13	4FW	Dean David	(1996-03-14) 14 March 1996	9	1	F.C. Ashdod
22	4FW	Dor Hugi	(1995-07-10) 10 July 1995	11	3	Hapoel Ra'anana

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 8 months:

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mahadi Zuabi	(1995-02-13) 13 February 1995	0	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	v. Serbia, 2 June 2016

DF	Omer Danino	(1995-02-17) 17 February 1995	4	0	Maccabi Petah Tikva	v. Serbia, 2 June 2016
DF	Eli Balilty	(1992-02-23) 23 February 1992	1	0	Ironi Kiryat Shmona	v. Serbia, 2 June 2016
DF	Dudu Twito	(1994-02-06) 6 February 1994	2	0	Maccabi Sha'arayim	v. Portugal, 17 November 2015
DF	Ben Grabli	(1994-04-08) 8 April 1994	1	0	Hapoel Kfar Saba	v. Liechtenstein, 17 November 2015
DF	Yuval Yosipovich	(1994-02-22) 22 February 1994	1	0	Hapoel Petah Tikva	v. Liechtenstein, 17 November 2015
DF	Yarin Hassan	(1994-03-22) 22 March 1994	1	0	Maccabi Netanya	v. Portugal, 17 November 2015
DF	Gal Dvir	(1994-03-20) 20 March 1994	1	0	Maccabi Herzliya	v. Poland, 8 October 2015
DF	Eyad Abu Abaid	(1994-12-31) 31 December 1994	8	1	Maccabi Haifa	v. Portugal, 2 September 2016

MF	Ben Reichert	(1994-03-04) 4 March 1994	7	1	Hapoel Tel Aviv	v. Poland, 8 October 2015
MF	Adi Konstantinos	(1994-09-11) 11 September 1994	3	0	Hapoel Jerusalem	v. Liechtenstein, 17 November 2015
MF	Dolev Haziza	(1995-07-05) 5 July 1995	1	0	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	v. Liechtenstein, 17 November 2015
MF	Yaniv Brik	(1995-05-28) 28 May 1995	0	0	Maccabi Haifa	v. Cyprus, 26 March 2015
MF	Raz Cohen	(1994-11-11) 11 November 1994	0	0	Hapoel Kfar Saba	v. Poland, 8 October 2015
MF	Gadi Kinda	(1994-01-01) 1 January 1994	16	1	F.C. Ashdod	v. Hungary, 24 March 2016
MF	Ataa Jaber	(1994-10-03) 3 October 1994	8	2	Maccabi Haifa	v. Greece, 28 March 2016
MF	Ismaeel Ryan	(1994-04-24) 24 April 1994	6	0	Maccabi Haifa	v. Greece, 28 March 2016
MF	Ramzi Safouri	(1995-10-21) 21 October 1995	6	0	Bnei Sakhnin	v. Serbia, 2 June 2016

FW	Niv Zrihan	(1994-05-24) 24 May 1994	1	0	F.C. Ashdod	v. Albania, 3 September 2015
FW	Yonathan Cohen	(1996-06-29) 29 June 1996	1	0	Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv	v. Liechtenstein, 17 November 2015
FW	Avishay Cohen	(1995-06-19) 19 June 1995	0	0	Beitar Jerusalem	v. Albania, 3 September 2015
FW	Oz Peretz	(1994-04-19) 19 April 1994	2	0	Maccabi Petah Tikva	v. Greece, 28 March 2016
FW	Ezaat Khlayli	(1994-03-27) 27 March 1994	1	0	Hapoel Acre	v. Serbia, 2 June 2016
FW	Sagiv Yehezkel	(1995-03-21) 21 March 1995	2	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv	v. Portugal, 2 September 2016

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.

UEFA European U-21 and U-23 Championship

Under-23 Championship

Without host	1970–1972 1972–1974 1974–1976

Under-21 Championship

Without host	1976–1978 1978–1980 1980–1982 1982–1984 1984–1986 1986–1988 1988–1990 1990–1992

With host	France 1994 Spain 1996 Romania 1998 Slovakia 2000 Switzerland 2002 Germany 2004 Portugal 2006 Netherlands 2007 Sweden 2009 Denmark 2011 Israel 2013 Czech Republic 2015 Poland 2017 Italy 2019

Qualification	1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017

Finals	1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Squads	1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015

Football in Israel

Domestic leagues

Men	Premier League (2016–17) Liga Leumit (2016–17) Liga Alef (2016–17) Liga Bet (2016–17) Liga Gimel (2016–17) Noar Premier League (2016–17)

Women	Women's League (2016–17)

Other	Beach Soccer League ('16) ('17) Futsal League

Domestic cups

Men	State Cup (2016–17) Super Cup Toto Cup (2016–17 Al, 2016–17 Leumit) Youth State Cup (2016–17)

Women	Israeli Women's Cup (2016–17)

Defunct competitions

National teams

Men	National team (History Players Records) U-21 U-19 U-18 U-17 Mandatory Palestine

Women	National team U-19 U-17

Other	National beach team National futsal team

Related to national team

International tournaments

National under-21 football teams of Europe (UEFA)

Active	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Defunct	Czechoslovakia East Germany USSR Yugoslavia

National sports teams of Israel

American Football Baseball Basketball men under-20 under-19 under-17 3X3 women w-under-19 w-under-17 w-3X3 Beach Soccer Bobsled Cricket Football men women under-21 under-19 under-18 under-17 Handball men women Hockey men under-20 Inline hockey Roller Hockey Rugby union Lacrosse Men's Women's Softball F F U19 M Squash M F Tennis men women Volleyball men women

Olympics Paralympics