Avraham Bendori

Avraham Bendori (June 21, 1928 – January 15, 2019) was an Israeli footballer who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israel national team.^[1] He later worked as a manager.

Avraham Bendori

Personal information
Full name	Avraham Bendori
Date of birth	(1928-06-21)June 21, 1928
Place of birth	Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
Date of death	January 15, 2019(2019-01-15) (aged 90)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1942–1946	Maccabi Tel Aviv
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1946–1960	Maccabi Tel Aviv
International career
1949–1959	Israel	4	(0)
Managerial career
1963–1964	Hapoel Kiryat Haim
1968	Maccabi Petah Tikva
1969–1970	Hapoel Rishon LeZion
1970–1971	Hapoel Ramat Gan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

Bendori was born in Tel Aviv in 1928 and joined Maccabi Tel Aviv at the age of 13.^[2] He was part of the Maccabi Michael youth team, which won back to back youth championship in the mid-1940s.^[3] In 1946 he was promoted to the senior team and played with the team until the end of the 1959–60 season, winning 6 league titles and 6 cups with the club.

Bendori was also a member of the Israel national football team, but only made a handful of appearances, as the main goalkeeper of the national team during this time was Ya'akov Hodorov. Bendori played in Israel's first match ever, against the U.S.,^[4] but didn't make another appearance in an official match until 1958, when he started in two group phase matches of the 1958 Asian Games, as Hodorov was injured.^[5] His final match for Israel was played against Poland in Wrocław, in which Bendori conceded 5 goals and was substituted in the 64th minute. Israel lost 2–7 in the match, which became known as the "Wrocław Shame".^[6][7]

After retiring, Bendori coached several teams without much success^[8] and served as the national team's director.

Personal life

Bendori, who was 20 during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, fought in the Samson's Foxes unit, and was injured on the Egyptian front, near Iraq Suwaydan, when the jeep he was driving was bombarded. Bendori was hospitalized for several weeks and was released to take part in the national teams' tour of the U.S.^[9][10][11] During his time with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Bendori worked for Dan Bus Company.^[12]

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Palestine League: 1946–47
• Palestine Cup (2): 1946, 1947
• Israeli League (5): 1949–50, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1957–58
• Israel State Cup (4): 1953–54, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1958–59

References

1. Bendori Avraham Archived 2016-12-21 at the Wayback Machine IFA (in Hebrew)
2. "The Goalkeeper Who Left Few Holes in the Net" (PDF). Hadshot HaSport. 1 (54): 6. 10 April 1955. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
3. The Football Team Took Off to Belgrade^{[permanent dead link‍]} Lifa Leviathan, Herut, 19 August 1949, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
4. The First Independence Team on Tour to the U.S.A. Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Asher Goldberg, 9 May 2011, IFA (in Hebrew)
5. "Bendori in the Israeli Goal Against Persia" (PDF). Hadshot HaSport. 4 (404): 1. 26 May 1958. Retrieved 12 February 2016.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
6. Poland Had Beaten Israel 7:2 (3:1)^{[permanent dead link‍]} Herut, 22 June 1959, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
7. So I Have Removed the Wrocław Shame David Assaf, 11 July 2013, Oneg Shabat (in Hebrew)
8. Hapoel Ramat Gan vs. Maccabi Jaffa 1971 Archived 2019-01-27 at the Wayback Machine Yaron Bar Lev, Shlomo Mann and Elisha Shohat, HaMakhtesh (in Hebrew)
9. Goalkeeper and Warrior: When Avraham Bendori Came Up for Defence Tomer Ganor, 25 April 2012, Ynet (in Hebrew)
10. Four, Four on the Thundering Jeep Archived 2019-01-15 at the Wayback Machine Doron Bar, 14 April 2013, Ma'ariv (in Hebrew)
11. "Get Up Mongol, We're Going to the U.S.A. Archived 2016-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Asher Goldberg, 25 September 2012, IFA (in Hebrew)
12. Once Players Drove Differently Asher Goldberg, 1 December 2004, Walla! (in Hebrew)