Israel Women's National Under-19 Football Team

The team is Israel's representative in UEFA women's under-19 competition and operates within the country's football structure under the Israeli Football Association.[1][4] Its first appearance in the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship finals came in 2015, when Israel hosted the tournament.[4]

The squad that entered the 2015 finals had been assembled approximately two years earlier around an academy at the Wingate Institute. The academy and national team shared staff and training methods, linking tournament preparation with a broader effort to develop elite women's football in Israel.[3]

Israeli football is administered by the Israeli Football Association, whose league structure is modeled on English football and other continental federations.[1] The predecessor Palestine Football Association was established in 1928 and comprised British, Jewish, and Arab teams.[5] After Israeli statehood, the country's sports federations sought membership in European governing bodies, a process that took decades. UEFA invited Israeli youth teams to participate in its championships from 1987, and by 1992 full UEFA membership had been completed for all practical purposes.[5]

Women's participation in Israeli sport dates to the Yishuv period, though women's athletics developed more slowly than men's, and Israeli sport continued to reflect a predominantly masculine culture even as political efforts sought greater equality.[6] During the early 2010s, participation in women's football increased by more than 50 percent over three years, while the number of leagues rose from two in 2009 to six.[7]

Before the 2015 championship, the Israel women's under-19 team's UEFA qualifying record illustrated a wide gap between the squad and established European sides. In Euro 2012 qualifying, Israel lost all three matches and scored once. In Euro 2013 qualifying, the team again lost all three matches without scoring and conceded nine goals. In Euro 2014 qualifying, Israel lost all three matches and was outscored 18–0.[2]

A separate 2012 report concerning Israel's younger girls' national team, whose players were aged 14 to 16, recorded 5–0 defeats against Italy and England and a 4–1 defeat against Northern Ireland in its Euro 2013 campaign.[8] Those results concerned the younger squad being developed toward the 2015 project rather than the under-19 qualifying record summarized above.

To provide regular competition outside UEFA qualifying windows, the Israeli Football Association entered the younger girls' national team as a complete unit in a boys' youth league in 2012, an arrangement the contemporary report described as unprecedented.[8] The team initially played in Children's League B against boys aged approximately 12 to 13, defeating Kadima-Tzoran 6–2 and losing 4–3 to Maccabi Yehud, with Gil Havatzelet scoring all three Israeli goals in the latter match.[8] The association subsequently moved the team to Children's League A because the younger opponents did not provide sufficient physical or competitive preparation for the planned 2015 European championship.[8]

On March 20, 2012, UEFA awarded Israel the right to host the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship finals, automatically granting Israel's under-19 team a place in the tournament despite the team having never previously come close to qualifying. Israel was set to become the 26th nation to appear in the finals.[2]

In preparation, an academy was established at the Wingate Institute, where players lived on-site to maximize training time.[2][3] Before joining the academy, players had trained twice weekly with their clubs; at Wingate, they trained nine times across five days each week.[2] The program ran for approximately two years and was designed both to prepare for the 2015 tournament and to create a longer-term foundation for women's football in Israel.[3]

The academy was overseen by Guy Azouri, who had previously coached the men's teams of Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Beersheba.[2] Azouri described the squad as "a national team built from scratch" and said the players had endured nine training sessions in five days, homesickness, parental pressure, and repeated crises without any of them giving up.[3] Having initially known little about women's football, Azouri watched every player in Israel in the relevant age group before selecting academy candidates and traveled to North America to recruit seven Jewish players from the United States and Canada.[2] The squad additionally included two Israeli-Arab girls, and Shay Perel served as team captain.[2]

The Israeli Football Association and the Athena organization also created a professional framework called the "Golden Squad" for the younger girls' national team. Its staff included head coach Nati Hagag, assistant coach Moran Lavi, a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach, and a physiotherapist.[8] Players held one national-team session per week and trained with their clubs on other days, with Athena funding coaching salaries, transportation, and promotion while the association provided pitches and facilities.[8]

During the season preceding the 2015 championship, the under-19 squad competed in the Israeli women's Premier League, finishing fifth among nine teams.[2]

The 2015 finals were a 12-day tournament featuring Israel and seven other teams drawn from a record-equaling field of 48 entrants.[2] Israel was placed in Group A alongside Sweden, three-time champion France, and Denmark, which had eliminated the previous year's champion, the Netherlands, in qualifying.[2] Israel's group-stage fixtures were scheduled against Sweden in Lod, France in Netanya, and Denmark in Lod. The other group comprised Germany, England, Norway, and Spain, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals.[2]

The finals marked the first time Israel's women's under-19 team participated in the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship.[4] Israel lost its opening match 3–0 to Sweden; six of Sweden's eight American-born players started that game.[7] The Israeli squad included goalkeepers Hana Bushari, Fortuna Rubin, and Amit Cohen; defenders Shoham Hanit Albaz, Karen Gur, Shayna Rivka Levy, captain Shay Perel, Noam Kedem, Noam Achtel, Shahar Hodaya Nekev, and Lauren Guetzman; midfielders Alina Matklov, Anna Ivette Manovich, Ofel Sofer, Samar Galia Sofer, Marian Awad, Sarit Weinstock, and Gil Havatzelet; and forwards Dalia Dakhwar, Maya Hitman, Gina Michelle Aide, and Eden Avital.[4]

In the 2025 UEFA Women's Under-19 qualifying campaign, Israel lost 2–0 to Germany and then 6–0 to Poland in the opening two matches of its round.[9] The reported lineup against Poland was Noa Kozak; Ofri Seker, Dolev Ovadia, Telma Tal, Moran Moskovitz, Ravid Cohen, Sofia Voldozov, Ziv Rot-Hazan, Mia Shvil, Tamar Goren, and Maayan Ben Israel.[9]

In the following qualifying cycle, Israel opened with a 2–0 victory over Kazakhstan on November 25, 2025. Tamar Goren scored in the ninth minute, and Maayan Ben Israel doubled the lead in the 25th minute.[10] Israel subsequently defeated Malta but lost 3–2 to Latvia in its final group match, finishing second without advancing and remaining in UEFA's Division B for the continuation of the campaign.[11]

In February 2026, the Israeli Football Association appointed former international player Silvi Jean as head coach of the women's under-19 team.[12] Jean, who had previously coached the under-16 side, described the under-19 players as talented, committed, and possessing significant potential.[12]

The 2015 project combined preparation for a single international tournament with an effort to establish a longer-term elite pathway for Israeli women's football.[3] Azouri presented the academy players as the future of the women's game in Israel and as potential role models for younger girls interested in football.[3]

The project coincided with measurable expansion in the domestic structure: participation increased by more than 50 percent over three years, and the number of women's leagues grew from two in 2009 to six.[7] The academy nevertheless operated within a system that still had a small player base and limited club infrastructure compared with leading European countries.[7]

The 2015 project's recruitment of eight American players drew criticism from figures within Israeli women's football. Critics argued that players who were not expected to remain in Israel displaced domestic players and did not address the underlying shortage of Israeli girls playing organized football. Most of the American players were reportedly seeking university scholarships in the United States.[7]

More broadly, the academy was created in response to the small number of girls playing organized football in Israel, and commentators identified a structural gap between Israel's women's football infrastructure and that of leading European nations.[7]

The historical priority claimed for the 2012 placement of the girls' national team in a boys' league should be treated cautiously. The contemporary report described the arrangement as a precedent and referred to Israeli Football Association records, but it did not establish that no comparable case had occurred anywhere else in the world.[8]