Haim Levin

Ynet reports that Levin began his playing career with Hapoel Petah Tikva in 1954. It says he moved three years later to Hapoel Hadera and then to Maccabi Haifa before joining Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1960.[1] ONE also lists Hapoel Kfar Saba among the clubs he represented before arriving at Maccabi Tel Aviv.[2] At Maccabi Haifa, he made 56 appearances in the late 1950s.[2]

At Maccabi Tel Aviv, Levin appeared in 214 matches and was a central figure in the club's trophy haul during the 1960s.[2] He won the Israeli league championship in 1968 and State Cups in 1964, 1965, and 1967.[1] The club also credited him as its goalkeeper during its 1968–69 Asian Club Championship victory.[1] He was selected as Israel's footballer of the season at the end of the 1964–65 campaign, with Ynet noting that he particularly excelled in that season's State Cup final against Hapoel Tel Aviv.[1]

After leaving Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1969, Levin continued playing for Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabi Netanya, and Hapoel Jerusalem, competing in Israel's top division almost until age 40.[2]

Levin earned 22 caps for the Israeli national team between May 1963 and April 1969.[2] His first appearance came against Brazil, and his final cap was against Austria.[2]

At the 1968 Mexico City Olympic football tournament, he served as Israel's goalkeeper in matches against Ghana, El Salvador, Hungary, and Bulgaria in the quarterfinal.[2]

After retiring from playing, Levin returned to Maccabi Haifa during the 1980s as a goalkeeping coach for the club's senior and youth teams.[2] Among the goalkeepers he worked with were Avi Ran, Nir Davidovich, Sagi Strauss, Eric Shmueli, and Dudu Aouate.[2]

Levin was inducted into the Israeli Football Hall of Fame in 2009.[1] He died on April 21, 2024, at age 87, and his funeral was scheduled to take place in Nes Harim.[2] He was survived by four daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.[2]

Other archival and news records use the names Haim, Chaim, or Hayim Levin for people whom the cited materials do not connect to the footballer.[3][4] A YIVO archival finding aid records a Hayim Levin whose 1925–1931 file includes an autobiography and correspondence with the Vilna Literary Society, but provides no further biographical profile.[3]

One Jonava, Lithuania, yizkor-book account describes a Chaim Levin who co-founded and directed a modern match factory near the railway station.[5] A separate Kovno Ghetto memoir names a Chaim Levin who lived there with his son Tzvi and his daughter Rachele and her two children; it states that only Tzvi survived among those relatives.[6] The sources do not establish that the factory director and the man in the Kovno Ghetto were the same person.

A Crown Heights resident named Chaim Levin was also reported in 2012 and 2016 in connection with advocacy on Orthodox LGBTQ issues and a civil abuse lawsuit.[4][7] Those reports do not establish a connection to the Israeli footballer.