Israel at the AFC Asian Cup

Israel competed at the AFC Asian Cup four times. In 1956 and 1960 Israel finished second, in they finished first, and in 1968 they finished third.^[1] In Israel qualified for the tournament as hosts but later withdrew.^[2]

Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s and eventually became a member of UEFA.^[3] After joining the UEFA Israel began competing in the UEFA European Championship in .

Record[]

AFC Asian Cup record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	6	5
1960	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	6	4
1964	Champions	1st	3	3	0	0	5	1
1968	Third Place	3rd	4	2	0	2	11	5
1972	Withdrew
Total	Champions	4/15	13	9	0	4	28	15

Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

1956 AFC Asian Cup[]

Israel competed at the 1956 AFC Asian Cup. This was the first AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s first appearance.^[4]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	3	2	1	0	9	6	+3	5
Israel	3	2	0	1	6	5	+1	4
Hong Kong	3	0	2	1	6	7	−1	2
South Vietnam	3	0	1	2	6	9	−3	1

1960 AFC Asian Cup[]

Israel competed at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup. This was the second AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s second appearance.^[4]

Qualification – Western Zone[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Israel	6	3	2	1	10	8	+2	8
Iran	6	3	1	2	12	10	+2	7
Pakistan	6	2	1	3	8	10	–2	5
India	6	2	0	4	7	9	–2	4

Tournament results[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	3	3	0	0	9	1	+8	6
Israel	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	4
Republic of China	3	1	0	2	2	2	0	2
South Vietnam	3	0	0	3	2	12	−10	0

Goal scorers[]

2 goals

• Shlomo Levi

1 goal

• Rafi Levi
• Avraham Menchel
• Nahum Stelmach

Squad[]

1964 AFC Asian Cup[]

Israel competed at the 1964 AFC Asian Cup. This was the third AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s third appearance.^[4]

Host nation[]

The tournament used a round-robin system with the winners from the West, Central 1 and 2 and East Asia zones and the team from the host nation (Israel) competing for the title. 11 of the 16 nations withdrew including Iran and Japan with the result that only one zone (combined Central 1 and 2) played any qualifying matches and the 'winners' of 2 zones and host Israel qualified uncontested. In this diminished competition Israel won the title with three wins.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Venues[]

Ramat Gan	Haifa	Ramat Gan Haifa Tel Aviv Jerusalem	Tel Aviv	Jerusalem
Ramat Gan Stadium	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium		Bloomfield Stadium	Hebrew University Stadium
Capacity: 41,583	Capacity: 17,000		Capacity: 22,000	Capacity: 16,000

Qualification[]

Israel as the host nation automatically qualified for the tournament.^[12]

Tournament results[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Israel	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	6
India	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	4
South Korea	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	2
Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

Goal scorers[]

2 goals

• Mordechai Spiegler

1 goal

• Moshe Leon
• Gideon Tish

Squad[]

1968 AFC Asian Cup[]

Israel competed at the 1968 AFC Asian Cup. This was the fourth AFC Asian Cup and Israel’s fourth and last appearance.^[4]

After the 1968 tournament Israel did not compete in a regional football tournament for many years. Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s and eventually became a member of UEFA.^[3] After joining the UEFA Israel began competing in the UEFA European Championship in .

Qualification – West Zone 1[]

Israel qualified for the tournament by default after all other teams in their zone withdrew from the tournament.^[13]

Tournament results[]

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	4	4	0	0	11	2	+9	8
Burma	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	5
Israel	4	2	0	2	11	5	+6	4
Republic of China	4	0	2	2	3	10	−7	2
Hong Kong	4	0	1	3	2	11	−9	1

Goal scorers[]

With 4 goals, Giora Spiegel and Moshe Romano of Israel tied with Homayoun Behzadi of Iran as the top scorers of the tournament.

4 goals

• Giora Spiegel
• Moshe Romano

2 goals

• Mordechai Spiegler

1 goal

• Shmuel Rosenthal

Squad[]

See also[]

• AFC Asian Cup qualifiers#All-time table

References[]