Israel Olympic football team

The Israel Olympic football team (Hebrew: נבחרת ישראל בכדורגל האולימפית, also known as Israel under-23 national football team) represents Israel in international football competitions in Olympic Games. The team is one of the Israeli youth football teams, and is only constituted when Israel qualifies for a Summer Olympics Games.

Israel Olympic

Nickname(s)	הנבחרת האולימפית (The Olympic Chosen Team) התכולים-לבנים (The Skyblue and Whites)[1]
Association	Israel Football Association
Other affiliation	Summer Olympics FIFA
Confederation	UEFA (Europe; 1990s–present)
Head coach	Guy Luzon[2]
Captain	Omri Gandelman[3]
FIFA code	ISR
First colours Second colours
Olympic Games
Appearances	3 (first in 1968)
Best result	Quarter-finals (1968, 1976)

Not to be confused with Israel national under-21 football team.

Israel is making its third Olympic appearance, representing Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics in football in Paris, France, coached by Guy Luzon.^[2]

History

Previously, the Israel national team competed in two Olympic Games, in 1968 and 1976, reaching the quarter-final in both times. Since age limit has been set for participants under the age of 23 starting from the 1992 Olympic Games, Israel had experienced a long absence from the Olympic football tournament, failing to qualify.^[4]

In the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Israel U21 reached the quarter-finals and then defeat the host Georgia 4-3 in a penalty shootout after 0-0 after 120 minutes, thus advancing to the semi-finals for the first time in its history.^[5] This achievement also helped secure the team's qualification to the 2024 Olympic Games.^[4][6]

2024 Summer Olympics

For the draw, Israel were in Pot 4 with Dominican Republic, Ukraine and Guinea. Israel was drawn to Group D with Japan, Paraguay and Mali. Its opening match of the tournament was against Mali and finished 1-1. The second match was a 4-2 loss to Paraguay with Omri Gandelman and Oscar Gloukh scoring the goals for Israel.^[7]Needing to defeat Japan to have any chance to advance, Israel conceded a late goal to lose 1-0 and so finished last in its group. Israel finished 15th at the tournament, just ahead of Guinea.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of all match results, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2024

Mali  v  Israel

24 July 2024 (2024-07-24) Summer Olympics – Group stage	Mali	1–1	Israel	Paris, France
22:00	Doumbia 63'	Report	H. Diallo 56' (o.g.)	Stadium: Parc des Princes Attendance: 10,637 Referee: Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh (New Zealand)

Israel  v  Paraguay

27 July 2024 (2024-07-27) Summer Olympics – Group stage	Israel	2–4	Paraguay	Paris, France
20:00	Gandelman 53' Gloukh 80'	Report	M. Fernández 25', 90+6' Enciso 69' Balbuena 90+3'	Stadium: Parc des Princes Referee: Drew Fischer (Canada)

Israel  v  Japan

30 July 2024 (2024-07-30) Summer Olympics – Group stage	Israel	0-1	Japan	Nantes, France
22:00		Report	Hosoya	Stadium: Stade de la Beaujoire

Head coaches

As of 25 July 2024

Manager	Nation	Year	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	Win %
Guy Luzon[2]		2024	1	0	1	0	1	1	0

Players

Current squad

• The following players were called-up for the 2024 Summer Olympics.^[8]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Omer Nir'on	(2001-04-17)17 April 2001 (aged 23)	0	0	Maccabi Netanya
	1GK	Niv Eliasi	(2002-02-01)1 February 2002 (aged 22)	0	0	Hapoel Be'er Sheva
	2DF	Ilay Feingold	(2004-08-23)23 August 2004 (aged 19)	0	0	Maccabi Haifa
	2DF	Roy Revivo	(2003-05-22)22 May 2003 (aged 21)	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv
	2DF	Noam Ben Harush	(2005-05-13)13 May 2005 (aged 19)	0	0	Hapoel Haifa
	2DF	Sean Goldberg*	(1995-06-13)13 June 1995 (aged 29)	0	0	Maccabi Haifa
	2DF	Or Israelov	(2004-09-02)2 September 2004 (aged 19)	0	0	Hapoel Tel Aviv
	2DF	Stav Lemkin	(2003-04-02)2 April 2003 (aged 21)	0	0	Shakhtar Donetsk
	3MF	Ido Shahar	(2001-08-20)20 August 2001 (aged 22)	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv
	3MF	Ayano Preda	(2002-04-29)29 April 2002 (aged 22)	0	0	Hapoel Jerusalem
	3MF	Ethan Azoulay	(2002-05-26)26 May 2002 (aged 22)	0	0	Maccabi Netanya
	3MF	Omri Gandelman* (captain[3])	(2000-05-16)16 May 2000 (aged 24)	0	0	Gent
	3MF	Adi Yona	(2004-04-17)17 April 2004 (aged 20)	0	0	Beitar Jerusalem
	3MF	Oscar Gloukh	(2004-04-01)1 April 2004 (aged 20)	0	0	Red Bull Salzburg
	4FW	Osher Davida	(2001-02-18)18 February 2001 (aged 23)	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv
	4FW	Liel Abada	(2001-10-03)3 October 2001 (aged 22)	0	0	Charlotte FC
	4FW	Elad Madmon	(2004-02-10)10 February 2004 (aged 20)	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv
	4FW	Dor Turgeman	(2003-10-24)24 October 2003 (aged 20)	0	0	Maccabi Tel Aviv

* Overage player.

Overage players in Olympic Games

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

Tournament	Player 1	Player 2
2024	Sean Goldberg* (DF)	Omri Gandelman* (MF & captain[3])

Competitive record

Summer Olympics

As U-23 team

Rules

1996–present: Under-23 national teams (with three 'no age limit' players allowed, after an agreement between FIFA and OIC)

Note

No tournament held in 1932

Summer Olympic Games record
Year	Host	Round	Pos.	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1900	Paris	Did not qualify
1904	St. Louis
1908	London
1912	Stockholm
1920	Antwerp
1924	Paris
1928	Amsterdam
1936	Berlin
1948	London
1952	Helsinki
1956	Melbourne
1960	Rome
1964	Tokyo
1968	Mexico City	Quarter-finals	5th	4	2	1	1	9	7
1972	Munich	Did not qualify
1976	Montreal	Quarter-finals	6th	4	0	3	1	4	7
1980	Moscow	Did not qualify
1984	Los Angeles
1988	Seoul
1992	Barcelona
1996	Atlanta
2000	Sydney
2004	Athens
2008	Beijing
2012	London
2016	Rio de Janeiro
2020	Tokyo
2024	Paris	Group stage	15th	3	0	1	2	3	6
2028	Los Angeles	To be determined
2032	Brisbane
Total		Quarter-finals	3/30	11	2	5	4	16	20

*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

See also

• Israel portal
• Association football portal

• Football at the Summer Olympics

• Israel national football team – senior men's squad
• Israel national under-21 football team
• Israel national under-20 football team
• Israel national under-19 football team
• Israel national under-18 football team
• Israel national under-17 football team
• Israel national under-16 football team

References

1. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs publication The Flag and the Emblem Archived 2007-04-17 at the Wayback Machine by art historian Alec Mishory, wherein he quotes "The Provisional Council of State Proclamation of the Flag of the State of Israel" made on 28 October 1948 by Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker.
2. https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/results/football/men/gpd-000100--
3. https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/results/football/men/gpd-000100--
4. "Israel qualifies for Paris Olympics, will face England in Euro U-21 semifinal". Times of Israel. 2 July 2023.
5. "מסע הקסם נמשך: הנבחרת הצעירה גברה על גיאורגיה בדרך לחצי גמר היורו". Israel Hayom (in Hebrew). 1 July 2023.
6. "הישג ענק: נבחרת ישראל תשתתף באולימפיאדה". Sports 5 Channel (in Hebrew). 1 July 2023.
7. Amy Spiro (July 28, 2024). "Judo, soccer, swimming and more: Results from Israel’s first full day at the Olympics," The Times of Israel.
8. "סרטון סגל הנבחרת לאולימפיאדה הוא הסיפור של כולנו כאן, החיים בין הכאב לתקווה. …" [The video of the squad for the Olympics is the story of all of us here, living between pain and hope...]. Facebook (in Hebrew). Israel Football Association. 23 May 2023.

External links

• IFA official website
• 2024 Paris football schedule. digitalhub.fifa.com