Israel Women's National Football Team

Israel's women's national football team represents the country in FIFA and UEFA competition and was established in 1997, before a national women's league existed.[2] Its competitive history has included promotion from Nations League C to B and a 2027 World Cup playoff appearance that ended against Switzerland in October 2026.[3][6] The team had not qualified for a major international tournament.[4]

Women's football in Israel began in 1970, but the national team was not formed until 1997. The Israel Football Association held tryouts in Ramat Gan before a women's league existed; former player Netanela Hajaj recalled that about 100 women attended. The team's first match, against Romania, ended in a 7–0 defeat.[1][2]

The order of development was unusual: the national team preceded the first women's league, established in 1999, as well as the development of youth structures. Karin Sendel described this as an “upside-down pyramid,” contrasting it with the usual sequence of youth league, women's league, and then national team.[1] A 2026 University of Haifa journal account also describes the early decades as lacking organized women's football, with some teams appearing in the 1970s but remaining on the margins of public life.[7]

Research on women's football in Israel describes the sport as taking root from the late 1980s and its late-1990s establishment as initiated by the Football Association. A study based on interviews with around 30 players from two top-league clubs examined the structural and gender-related constraints surrounding the sport.[8] A 2015 book characterized Israeli women's football as marginal, with relatively few clubs, limited funding, and a small audience; it reported that the sport was played in 177 countries, including Israel.[9]

Women's participation in Israeli sports more broadly dates to the Yishuv period, with women active as team members, individual athletes, and coaches. Competitive participation grew more slowly and modestly than the wider international trend.[10] One account of soccer in Israel describes it as a masculine institution that marginalizes women, a characterization offered in a broader discussion of soccer, identity, and inclusion.[11]

Israel reached 55th in the FIFA rankings in January 2014, after winning its first two home matches in its 2015 Women's World Cup qualifying campaign. The ranking was reported at the time as the team's highest to date; it is a historical high, not a current ranking.[12]

In the 2023 UEFA Women's Nations League, Israel competed in League C alongside Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia. It finished first with five wins and one draw, a 21–2 goal difference, and promotion to League B. The team played its final five matches after October 7, 2023, in Hungary. Players displayed a photograph of Naama Levy, daughter of the team's doctor, and wore “Bring Them Home” shirts to raise awareness of her abduction.[13]

That campaign left Israel first in its League C group, unbeaten on 16 points. It later finished last in its League B group during Euro 2025 qualifying and returned to League C for 2025.[14] In the 2025 Nations League, Israel beat Estonia 3–0 in its final match, finishing first with 10 points and securing promotion to League B. Noa Selimhodzic opened the scoring, Smadar Cohen scored on her debut, and 17-year-old Maayan Ben Israel added a stoppage-time goal.[3]

Israel's 2025 Women's European Championship qualifying group included Scotland, Serbia, and Slovakia. It earned one point from 18 and had never qualified for the European Championship.[1][5] In June 2025, Israel was placed 70th in the world rankings, between India and the Ivory Coast. The lowest-ranked team at the upcoming European Championship was Wales at 30th, illustrating the ranking gap Israel faced in seeking qualification.[1]

Israel's 2027 Women's World Cup qualifying group was League B group B4. The team finished third with six points, recording two wins against Luxembourg and defeats to Belgium and Scotland, and advanced to the first round of the playoffs against Switzerland.[15] Israel lost the first playoff match 7–3 and the return leg 2–0 in Sion on October 13, 2026. Switzerland advanced 9–3 on aggregate, ending Israel's campaign.[6]

The team's development reflects the expansion of opportunities for female players in a system that once lacked teenage and youth competition. Karin Sendel, the team's record caps holder, made her Israel debut in 2005. A June 2025 report credited her with 70 caps and described her as having witnessed the development of women's football in the country. Sendel recalled that when she began playing, teenagers had nowhere to compete and some people considered football unacceptable for girls; later, she said, the country had three women's leagues and new youth teams.[1]

The squad has included players at different stages of their careers. In 2025, Talia Sommer, then 21, played for Butler University and scored three goals across Israel's four matches in the promotion campaign. She described the team as combining younger players with older teammates who could guide them. Sommer also recalled playing for six years at Maccabi Tel Aviv as the only girl in the league and on her team.[1]

The team has drawn most of its players from Israeli clubs, while some squad members have played for clubs in Germany, the United States, and Belgium. A January 2026 report described the team as being on an extended unbeaten streak after its promotion to League B the previous year and identified the 2027 World Cup qualifiers as its next test.[4]

Former manager Gabi Burstein said that the women's game needed to build a football culture and tradition in Israel. He linked the inability of players to be full-time professionals to a lack of funding, noting that they often trained only twice a week. Burstein called for resources to develop youth players and make football more attractive to young girls; Sendel also advocated a five-to-ten-year plan and investment in players.[1]

Questions about funding and conditions have featured in public reporting on the team. In 2014, players complained of delayed and low expense reimbursements, inadequate arrangements for those travelling from abroad, too few friendly matches, and the use of men's training clothing. The Israel Football Association disputed the portrayal of insufficient support, saying that it had invested substantial resources in women's football, including an academy and youth development, and would continue its support.[12]

In June 2022, national-team players suspended training in protest over what they described as unequal conditions. They cited a per-match allowance of 15 euros for women compared with 500 euros for men, as well as long, low-cost travel and inadequate facilities. A reported agreement with the Football Association provided for equal allowances, more comfortable flights, an expanded coaching staff, a mental coach, and measures intended to develop women's football more broadly.[16]

These episodes form part of wider discussion about the sport's limited resources and professional opportunities. Accounts of women's football in Israel describe a small club base and audience and constraints on player development, while those involved in the national team have called for sustained investment in players and youth structures.[1][9]

Israel has at times been unable to host international matches at home. At the March 2024 draw for UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying, the team's coach said it could not host matches in Israel at that point.[5] Its remaining 2023 Nations League matches after October 7, 2023, were played in Hungary.[13]

For the 2027 Women's World Cup qualifiers against Scotland, fixtures scheduled for June 5 and June 9, 2026, were relocated to Budapest's Bozsik Arena. A June 2026 government risk assessment said the matches were expected to be played behind closed doors for security considerations. Reporting also attributed the inability to stage the matches in Israel to UEFA security restrictions.[17][18]