American Football in Israel

At the time of reporting, AFI's programs included three flag-football leagues serving approximately 70 men's, women's, and youth teams; the Kraft Family Israel Football League for adult men's tackle play; the Kraft Family High School Israel Football League; and Israel Youth Football. About 2,000 players, coaches, and officials participated under its auspices.[1] A 2023 account likewise placed total involvement at around 2,000 and described programs for men, women, and children in cities across Israel.[2]

The player base has broadened beyond the American immigrants and their children who predominated in the sport's early years. Reports describe religious and secular participants, native-born Israelis and immigrants, varied economic backgrounds, Arab players in some cities, and immigrants from Ethiopia and Russia. Teams outside Jerusalem are often predominantly or entirely Hebrew-speaking.[3][2]

American football in Israel traces its roots to regular touch-football games organized by immigrant Arnie Draiman in Jerusalem's Gan Sacher Park beginning in 1984. Steve Leibowitz and Danny Gewirtz established American Touch Football in Israel in 1988. Early participants were mainly American immigrants or their children, although more Israelis joined over time.[3]

In 2002, Leibowitz changed the league format from touch football to flag football. In 2004, the organization received recognition from the Ministry of Education's Sports Authority.[3] American football was among the sports identified during this period as popular with English-speaking immigrants to Israel.[5]

The adult tackle league described in 2023 had eight teams from cities across Israel. Its season consisted of eight regular-season games followed by playoffs and the Israel Bowl championship in the spring.[2] AFI also offered tackle and flag programs for men, women, and children in multiple cities.[1][2]

Israel's flag-football competition includes dozens of teams that compete for the Holy Land Bowl each season.[5] Together with the high-school and youth programs, these competitions provide organized levels of play for different ages and formats.

Robert Kraft and the Kraft family became major supporters of American football infrastructure in Israel. Kraft helped finance an early dedicated field near Jerusalem's Gan Sacher Park. A Jerusalem Post account says the small Kraft Family Stadium was inaugurated in 2000, while Encyclopedia.com dates its construction to 1999.[2][6] The field provided AFI with a dedicated venue after years without adequate facilities.

In 2017, Kraft donated $6 million toward opening the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem. The complex includes a regulation-size American football field and facilities for soccer, basketball, and other sports.[2] A separate Jewish Virtual Library profile describes the earlier Kraft Family Stadium, rather than the newer sports campus, as hosting a 33-team flag football league and other sporting events.[7]

AFI fields men's and women's national teams for international flag football. The men's national team won gold in Germany in 2013, silver in Copenhagen in 2017, and bronze at the 2023 European Championship in Ireland.[4] Israel's under-17 men's team won its first gold medal at the 2023 International Federation of American Football European Junior Flag Football Championships, approximately one month after the senior men's bronze medal.[5]

The women's national team won gold at its first international tournament in 2005 and later earned bronze at the 2009 European Championship in Belfast and in Germany in 2013.[4] Israel hosted the European Flag Football Championship in 2019 and the Flag Football World Championship in 2021.[2]

In January 2023, Leibowitz said AFI was assembling a squad that it hoped could qualify for flag football competition at the 2028 Olympic Games.[2] Some Israeli flag-football teams have forfeited internationally scheduled games played on Shabbat.[5]

AFI's development reflects the expansion of American football from pickup games among immigrants in a Jerusalem park into organized leagues and youth programs across Israel.[3][2] At the time of the cited reports, its activities involved roughly 2,000 players, coaches, and officials, as well as men's and women's national teams competing internationally.[1][4]

Leibowitz recalled that the sport's earliest participants in Israel lacked basic familiarity with fitting helmets and shoulder pads.[4] The Kraft family's financial support subsequently provided dedicated infrastructure, including Israel's first AFI field and the regulation-size field at the Kraft Family Sports Campus.[2] The growth of Hebrew-speaking teams and participation across religious, ethnic, and immigrant communities also demonstrates the sport's expansion beyond its original English-speaking base.[3][2]