Sport in Israel

Football is Israel’s most popular sport both to watch and to play, while basketball also holds a prominent place in the country’s sporting life.[5][3] Alongside club competitions and national teams, sport encompasses school activities, community leagues, outdoor recreation, and international events that bring visiting athletes to Israel.[1] The Maccabiah gives this sporting culture a specifically Jewish international dimension, combining athletic competition with connections between Israel and the diaspora.[6]

Israeli sport developed from the activities of a relatively small number of amateur enthusiasts into a mass cultural phenomenon, undergoing substantial changes after the establishment of the state in 1948.[7] Its institutions have included politically associated sports organizations, national federations, schools, and specialized training facilities.[4] From the 1980s onward, football became increasingly commercial, with other sports following a similar trajectory to a lesser extent; dependence on commercial-market capital increased during the 1990s.[5]

International achievement has taken several forms: Maccabi Tel Aviv’s European basketball championships, the national football team’s appearance at the 1970 World Cup, and Olympic medals in disciplines including judo, windsurfing, gymnastics, and taekwondo.[8][3][1] Recreational participation extends beyond these elite competitions to running, swimming, cycling, sailing, kayaking, rock climbing, and other activities.[1]

Jewish schools in Eretz Israel introduced physical education toward the end of the nineteenth century, and the first Jewish sports clubs in the country—the Rishon le-Zion Club in Jaffa and the Bar Giora Club in Jerusalem—were established in 1906.[4] The Rehovot Festival, organized in 1908 as the first national sports competition, continued annually until World War I.[4] These initiatives formed an early framework for organized athletics before the creation of national sporting institutions.[4]

The development of Jewish sport also drew on athletic clubs in Eastern Europe and the emphasis on physical strength within the emerging Zionist movement.[2] Max Nordau’s appeal for a “muscular Jew” at the 1898 Zionist Conference was followed by the establishment of dozens of Jewish sports clubs in Europe.[9] By the eve of World War I, more than 100 Maccabi clubs existed in Europe.[4] Yosef Yekutieli later promoted the idea of a “Jewish Olympics,” helping lead to the inaugural Maccabiah in 1932.[9]

Maccabi developed as an apolitical sports organization favored by the General Zionists; clubs in Jerusalem, Petah Tikva, and Jaffa formed a countrywide organization in 1912.[4] Beyond athletics, its activities promoted Hebrew-language use, Jewish labor, and Jewish self-defense.[4] When the Rehovot Festival was not revived after World War I, Maccabi organized its own festival in 1920.[4]

Workers began organizing sports clubs in 1924 and established the countrywide Hapoel organization in 1926 as an affiliate of the Histadrut.[4] Hapoel joined the International Workers’ Sports Federation the following year, initially emphasizing sport for the masses in contrast to Maccabi’s stronger competitive and national-organizational emphasis.[4] Its fourth festival attracted 10,000 participants in 1935.[4]

The British Mandate helped shift the leading sporting activity from gymnastics toward football, as British army teams competed against Maccabi teams.[4] The Organization of Jewish Soccer Clubs was founded in 1925, followed in 1928 by the football association that included British, Jewish, and Arab teams.[4] Football provided an institutional point of cooperation between Maccabi and Hapoel before statehood, even as their broader organizational activities remained separate.[4]

Maccabi Tel Aviv, founded in 1906, is identified as Israel’s oldest football team; the first Tel Aviv derby took place in 1928, and the first league was established in 1932 with British Mandate clubs among its participants.[10] The representative team’s first international appearance was a 1934 World Cup qualifying tie against Egypt, lost 11–2 over two legs.[10]

The Eretz Israel Football Association, founded in 1928, was required to include all population groups as a condition of acceptance into FIFA.[11] League competitions brought together Arab, Jewish, and British teams, while players from the three communities were sometimes selected for an all-star side against international opponents.[11] Sporting contact could include cordial receptions: at a 1941 match in Rehovot, the visiting Arab team was welcomed with “friendly enthusiasm.”[11]

Political tensions also disrupted these relationships.[11] Jewish and British club matches stopped following protests in the Yishuv over the 1930 Passfield White Paper, and Arab teams left the association in 1934 to establish a short-lived parallel organization.[11] Another break followed the 1942 League Cup dispute, when Maccabi Tel Aviv was disqualified for using two players slated for conscription, but Maccabi Haifa rather than its opponent, Shabab al-‘Arab, advanced.[11] After the rejection of Shabab al-‘Arab’s appeal, Arab teams renounced association membership in 1943 and established the Arab Sports Association in May 1944.[11]

After independence, football remained closely connected to political organizations.[12] In the 1950s, it was organized through three federations affiliated with different political camps, while the major sports centers Maccabi, Hapoel, and Beitar shaped its management and supporters’ allegiances.[12][13] Later commercialization accompanied weakened financial capacity among political centers and players’ demands for compensation for training, time, and participation.[13] From 1990 onward, club privatization increasingly replaced the earlier organizational model.[12]

Israel qualified for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico after defeating Australia in qualifying.[3] At the finals, the national team drew with Sweden and Italy and lost to Uruguay before elimination in the first round.[10] The tournament increased the international profile of Israeli players, helped stimulate domestic professionalization, and opened opportunities abroad.[10] Israel came close to qualification again in 1989, winning the Oceania zone before losing away to Colombia and drawing the return match in Ramat Gan.[3]

Israeli football also contributed a proposal for a major change in international competition.[14] After Israel’s drawn 1968 Olympic quarter-final against Bulgaria was decided by a coin toss, journalist Joseph Dagan proposed penalty shoot-outs; Israel Football Association chairman Micha Almog brought the idea to FIFA, which approved the method in 1970.[14]

The first Maccabiah opened in Tel Aviv on March 28, 1932, establishing an international gathering that became known as the “Jewish Olympics.”[2] Named for Judah Maccabee, the Games grew from the Jewish athletic-club movement and its concern with physical strength.[2] Yosef Yekutieli promoted the idea of a “Jewish Olympics,” including by traveling through Europe to publicize it.[9]

The Games operated under the auspices of the Maccabi World Union, with goals that included demonstrating Jewish strength and athletic ability, strengthening connections with Jews worldwide, and encouraging aliyah.[6] British High Commissioner Arthur Wauchope sponsored the inaugural event, whose public figures included Tel Aviv mayor Meir Dizengoff.[6] Dizengoff led its opening parade on a white horse, and 120 carrier pigeons were released during the ceremony to carry news of the Games.[2]

The second Maccabiah, held in 1935, drew 1,250 participants from 28 countries competing in 18 sports.[2] Delegations arrived from Central and Eastern Europe and Arab countries, with several places not represented again for many years afterward.[15] Danzig’s delegation marched separately from both Poland and Germany to avoid declaring allegiance amid tensions between those states, while a sizable German delegation received permission to attend only at the last moment.[15]

The 1935 gathering acquired the name “Aliyah Olympics” because many participants remained in Palestine amid Hitler’s rise and growing European antisemitism.[2] The pre-state Games consequently joined athletic competition with Jewish migration and the building of Jewish communal life in the country.[6]

The next Maccabiah did not take place until 1950, after World War II, the struggle against the British Mandate, and the War of Independence.[6] An event originally planned for 1938 had been cancelled by the British government, which feared that the Games could provide cover for large-scale unauthorized Jewish immigration as the Nazi threat grew.[16] The 1950 gathering, called the “Liberation Maccabiah,” was the first in independent Israel and brought 800 athletes from 20 countries to a 50,000-seat stadium in Ramat Gan.[6][16]

Subsequent Games took place in 1953 and 1957, with later editions following a four-year rhythm.[6] By 2017, the Jerusalem gathering brought together 10,000 athletes from 80 countries for competitions in 43 sports.[2] Its range extends beyond athletics and swimming to squash, bridge, table tennis, baseball, and other events.[17]

Planning reports illustrate how expectations for later Games changed over time. The 2022 edition was projected to bring about 10,000 athletes from roughly 60 countries for 42 sports at about 30 venues.[18] In September 2024, planners forecast more than 11,000 participants from about 80 countries for the July 2025 edition.[19] By June 2025, the estimate had been revised to close to 8,000 athletes from 55 countries, including 3,000 Israelis, amid cancellations and safety concerns during the war.[20] These were pre-event projections rather than verified final attendance totals.[19][20]

Contemporary estimates placed event costs at NIS 200 million, with another NIS 50 million in delegation-paid flights and an anticipated NIS 350 million flowing into the economy.[20] Funding combined registration fees, partners, donors, and government support, while philanthropy assisted Jewish communities unable to meet participation costs.[20]

Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club was founded in 1932 and competes in Israel’s Ligat Ha’al and the EuroLeague.[8] Tal Brody’s arrival in 1965 marked the beginning of a period of substantial growth in Israeli basketball, alongside an increasing American presence in the sport.[21] Teams were connected with political parties and forms of Judaism, while the arrival of additional American players brought questions concerning Jewish identity and restrictions on some foreign players.[21]

On February 17, 1977, Maccabi defeated CSKA Moscow 91–79 in a European semifinal played in a small Belgian village.[8][22] The neutral venue followed the Soviet refusal to host the Israelis or permit CSKA to play in Israel.[8] Maccabi then defeated the Italian club Mobilgirgi Varese, the two-time defending champion, by one point in the April 7 final to win its first European Cup.[8][22]

The championship carried significance beyond the court in the context of Cold War tensions and the Soviet Union’s rupture of relations with Israel after the Six-Day War.[8] Brody’s declaration, “We’re on the map and we’re staying on the map – not only in sport, but in everything!”, became part of Israeli culture.[9] Approximately 200,000 fans gathered in Tel Aviv to welcome the team home.[22]

Maccabi added another European Cup in 1981, and in September 1978 defeated the NBA champion Washington Bullets 98–97.[4] Later European championships included the 2001 title and the 2004 EuroLeague victory, when Maccabi overwhelmed Skipper Bologna 118–74 in the final.[23] The same year, Hapoel Jerusalem defeated Real Madrid 83–72 to win the ULEB Cup, giving another Israeli club a major European achievement.[23]

Women’s basketball also developed successful domestic institutions.[4] Between 1977 and 1996, Elitzur Holon won 18 Israeli cups and 20 league championships.[4] These sustained domestic results formed part of a wider range of women’s achievements across sailing, athletics, tennis, and Olympic competition.[4][24]

Israel’s first sailing race, held in 1939, followed a Haifa–Tel Aviv–Haifa route, and some participating boats were also used to unload unauthorized immigrants.[25] The race soon became a tradition.[25] Shimshon Bober helped establish the sport after moving to Kibbutz Sdot Yam in 1955, teaching local children to sail and founding the Sdot Yam sailing club with an emphasis on maritime education as well as competition.[25]

International progress followed in the 1960s.[25] Yair Michaeli and the national team placed third at a competition in England in 1968, and Zefania Carmel and Lydia Lazarov won the 420 world championship in 1969.[25] Economic constraints encouraged continued use of the non-Olympic 420 model, but success during the 1970s led sports officials to pursue Olympic competition.[25] Michaeli and Yitzhak Nir represented Israel at the 1972 Munich Games.[25]

Development through the 1970s and 1980s included overseas expertise in sail design and coaching.[25] Itzik Ben Melech became sailing’s first fitness coach in the 1980s and later directed the Elite Sports Unit at the Wingate Institute.[25] Year-round training conditions, varied beaches, and a strong connection to the sea supported the sport’s prominence within Israel’s Olympic program.[25]

Windsurfing subsequently produced several of Israel’s most important Olympic achievements.[26] Gal Fridman won bronze at Atlanta in 1996 and Israel’s first Olympic gold at Athens in 2004, becoming the country’s first multiple Olympic medal winner.[26] Raised in Pardes Hana-Karkur, he began windsurfing under his father’s instruction at six and missed Sydney 2000 after taking a break from the sport.[26] Shahar Zubari added Olympic bronze in 2008, while Tom Reuveny and Sharon Kantor won gold and silver respectively at Paris 2024.[1]

Israel made its Olympic debut at Helsinki in 1952 with 26 athletes competing in five sports and won no medals.[27] It subsequently participated in the Summer Games apart from Moscow 1980.[24] Its first Winter Olympian was figure skater Michael “Misha” Shmerkin, the sole Israeli competitor at Lillehammer in 1994, who finished sixteenth in the men’s event and returned at Nagano in 1998.[28]

The 1972 Munich Olympics became a defining tragedy in Israeli sporting history when Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organization, killed 11 members of Israel’s delegation.[29] Eight terrorists entered the Olympic Village; wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg and weightlifter Yossef Romano were killed in the initial attack, and nine others were taken hostage.[29] All nine hostages were killed during an unsuccessful German rescue attempt at the airport.[29]

Israel’s first Olympic medal arrived at Barcelona in 1992, when 25-year-old judoka Yael Arad won silver.[27] Oren Smadja also won judo bronze at those Games.[24] Through Rio 2016, judo accounted for five of Israel’s nine Olympic medals, including medals for Yarden Gerbi and Or Sasson in 2016.[27] Other medal milestones included Michael Kalganov’s kayaking bronze at Sydney 2000 and Ariel Zeevi’s judo bronze at Athens 2004.[30]

Tokyo, held in 2021, brought Israel’s largest Olympic delegation to that point: 90 athletes, including the country’s first Olympic baseball team.[24] Artem Dolgopyat won floor-exercise gold, Linoy Ashram won the rhythmic gymnastics all-around title, Avishag Semberg earned taekwondo bronze, and the mixed judo team won bronze.[24] Dolgopyat had immigrated from Ukraine at age 12.[31] The two gymnastics titles added Olympic gold medals in disciplines beyond windsurfing.[24]

Paris 2024 produced a record seven medals: one gold, five silver, and one bronze.[1] Reuveny won men’s windsurfing gold and Kantor women’s windsurfing silver; the remaining medals were two judo silvers, one judo bronze, Dolgopyat’s artistic gymnastics silver, and silver for the women’s rhythmic gymnastics team.[1]

Achievements extended beyond the podium.[32] Lonah Chemtai Salpeter finished ninth in the women’s marathon, Israel’s best Olympic marathon result, while Shelly Bobritsky and Ariel Nassee placed eleventh in artistic swimming, also a national Olympic best in that event.[32] Israel qualified a men’s football team for the first time since 1976 and sent 18 swimmers, its largest Olympic swimming delegation to that point.[32] The men’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay set a national record and reached its first Olympic final.[1]

Paralympic participation has combined elite achievement with competitive opportunities for athletes with disabilities.[30] At Beijing 2008, Israel sent 42 athletes in 11 sports and won five silver medals and one bronze.[30] Swimmer Keren Leibowitz’s achievements included three gold medals at Sydney 2000, three World Championships, and five European Championships.[30]

The Wingate Institute near Netanya serves as Israel’s national sports center, incorporating a school for gifted young athletes, a sports medicine department, and the Council for Sporting Excellence, which determines eligibility for full-time training stipends.[1] Its historical training functions included preparing physical-education teachers, physiotherapists, coaches, and IDF physical-training instructors.[4] The Sports Authority has coordinated sporting federations and organizations while supporting coach education and program development.[1]

Major sports organizations include Maccabi, Hapoel, Betar, Elitzur, and the Academic Sports Association, with clubs across the country; schools and community centers also organize local leagues and competitions.[1] A historical snapshot for 1970 counted more than 40,000 organized competitive athletes, including 15,000 under the Israel Sports Federation, 13,000 in football, and 9,000 in basketball.[4] Many more people participated noncompetitively.[4]

School sport expanded after independence alongside increased provision of schools and sporting facilities.[4] Historical arrangements included physical education twice weekly and annual school competitions involving approximately 70,000 pupils in athletics, basketball, volleyball, handball, swimming, and football.[4] These figures describe an earlier institutional period rather than current participation.[4]

The 1988 Sports Law, adopted after being tabled for 13 years, established provisions concerning coach and instructor certification, health and loss-of-income insurance, periodic medical examinations for competitive athletes, and prohibited doping materials.[4] It also assigned regulatory powers to the minister responsible for education and culture.[4]

Mass-participation activities have included the Three-Day March to Jerusalem, a swim across Lake Kinneret, and a cross-country race around Mount Tabor.[4] The Jerusalem march brought together clubs, families, workplaces, and military contingents, with camps and entertainment along the route and a concluding procession through the city.[4] Mountain biking, windsurfing, and scuba diving also feature among popular outdoor activities.[1]

Modern performance preparation has incorporated environmental and scientific planning.[33] In 2018, the Israeli Olympic Committee established a climate forum to prepare athletes for hot conditions, including heat acclimatization and cooling strategies for sailing, distance running, cycling, and triathlon.[33] Marathon preparation shifted from cold-weather training in Ethiopia to hotter, high-altitude conditions in Bormio, Italy.[33] Subsequent distance-running achievements included European team marathon gold in 2022, individual European silver and bronze at the same championships, and Maru Tefri’s silver at the 2023 World Championships.[33]

Women have participated in Israeli sport since the Yishuv period as individual competitors, team members, and coaches.[34] A study covering Olympic and Maccabiah participation from 1932 to 1992 found a relatively stable ratio of three to four men for every woman, with somewhat lower female participation at the Olympics.[35] Women entered an increasing number of sports over those decades, although gender differentiation and concentration in sports categorized as female remained substantial.[35]

The 2019/20 organized-sport figures counted 134,046 active athletes, of whom 23.6 percent were women.[36] Girls accounted for 49.4 percent of athletes aged seven to eleven, while women represented 44.9 percent of participants aged 61 and over.[36] Children aged seven to eleven comprised 9.8 percent of active female athletes, compared with 3.1 percent of active male athletes.[36]

Participation varied sharply by discipline.[36] Football had 38,359 active athletes, including 1,382 women, or 3.6 percent; basketball had 31,206 participants, including 6,363 women, or 20.4 percent.[36] Volleyball’s 5,700 participants included 2,665 women, or 46.8 percent.[36] Women formed majorities in bridge, with 4,242 of 7,340 participants, and artistic gymnastics and trampolining, with 4,075 of 4,376 participants.[36]

High-profile achievements have appeared across multiple generations and disciplines.[4] Alongside Lazarov’s sailing world title, Esther Rot became prominent in athletics during the 1970s, Anna Smashnova reached number 16 in the tennis world rankings in 2002 and 2003, and Shahar Peer rose to number 23 in June 2006.[4] Arad’s pioneering Olympic medal, Ashram’s gold, and the Paris 2024 medals of Kantor and the rhythmic gymnastics team extended this record into major Olympic milestones.[27][1]

The Maccabiah connects international competition with Jewish communal life, strengthening relations between Israel and diaspora communities while maintaining its longstanding association with Jewish physical empowerment and aliyah.[6] Its development has also encompassed sports diplomacy, broader diplomatic goals, and Jewish unity, operating substantially through private and civic networks rather than consistent state support alone.[37]

Sporting facilities themselves reflect this history.[38] The Maccabiah Stadium in north Tel Aviv was built for the 1932 Games and subsequently hosted local, national, and international football matches for decades.[38] Ramat Gan’s national stadium was conceived in 1950 for the first post-independence Maccabiah and was completed in 130 days after construction began in April.[39] Its September ceremony attracted 45,000 people; construction cost 600,000 Israeli lirot and left the municipality with a substantial deficit.[39]

Israel has participated in numerous international sporting associations and hosted major events, including the opening of the 2018 Giro d’Italia and the 2019 FIBA Under-20 European Basketball Championship.[40] Israeli athletes also competed under their national flag at the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Qatar and a Judo Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi.[40] These appearances sit alongside club championships and Olympic achievements as forms of international sporting engagement.[40]

Success has also helped expand domestic opportunities.[41] Israeli tennis achievements in the 1980s were followed by tennis-center development and the construction of hundreds of courts, while judo and gymnastics successes attracted children to those disciplines.[41] Football participation crosses community lines: a 2019 account placed Israeli Arab players at more than one third of the national team and an even higher share of the youth team.[40] Changes in fandom have included more active supporter involvement in club management and, among some Israelis, increased following of foreign rather than local clubs.[42]

International sporting participation has repeatedly encountered political exclusion and boycotts.[43][40] Israel faced hostility and exclusion within Asian sporting frameworks before moving toward European affiliations, and secured full UEFA membership in 1994.[43][4] More recent disputes have included restrictions on competing under the Israeli flag at some events, cancellation of a planned Argentina–Israel football friendly in 2018 amid a BDS campaign, and relocation of an Israeli women’s water-polo match in Spain.[40]

Domestic debates concern resources, equality, and spectator behavior.[34][44] Football’s funding and public prominence have been compared with medal-winning Olympic disciplines; a September 2024 comparison reported more than NIS 108 million for the football association and approximately NIS 94 million for the Olympic committee over the preceding three years, although such comparisons do not provide a neutral measure of sporting value or success.[44] Persistent gender inequalities have prompted political efforts to advance women’s athletics, while research on football violence identifies ethnicity and nationality as important triggers within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.[34][45]

The origins of penalty shoot-outs also carry a competing attribution: German referee Karl Wald claimed to have independently developed the method around the same time as Dagan.[14] This qualification concerns the invention claim rather than the documented Israeli proposal to FIFA.[14]