Football in Israel
Season1948–49
Israel

The 1948–49 season was the first season of competitive football in Israel, which was established towards the end of the previous season, and the 23rd season under the Israeli Football Association, established in 1928, during the British Mandate.

IFA Competitions

As the newly formed Israel was in the midst of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, most footballing activities were delayed until spring 1949.

1949–51 Israel State Cup

The competition started on 9 April 1949, with 16 teams competing in the first round. After the completion of the quarter-finals, on 28 May 1949, two teams, Maccabi Petah Tikva and Maccabi Tel Aviv appealed their eliminations, and the competition was halted.

League competitions

League competitions started in May 1949 and carried over to the next season.

Youth competitions

Footballing activities for underage (and therefore, not eligible for military service) footballers continued, as possible even during the ongoing war, with the 1947–48 Palestine Noar League, which started before the declaration of independence, completed in summer 1948. During fall 1949, the IFA organized a national cup competition for youth teams, which was won by Maccabi Tel Aviv, who had beaten Maccabi Ramat Gan 3–0 in the final.

National teams

National team

In summer 1948 an initiative was set to send a select XI to a tour in the United States, as a mean to show independence and as a fundraiser for the cash-strapped state.[1] Prior to departure the national team held a training camp in Israel, playing training matches against several army teams, beating the transport corps 10–1, the artillery corps 8–0, the Alexandroni Brigade 8–3 and a select XI from the brigades stationed along the Jordanian-Iraqi front 6–0.[2]

The team played three matches on the tour, one against the USA team which appeared in the 1948 Summer Olympics, and two against select XIs, losing all three matches.[2] While in the US, the teams also had a training match, while visiting the United States Military Academy, against the Army Black Knights, winning 9–0.[3]

1948–49 matches


26 September 1948 friendly		 United States  3–1  Israel New York
Souza 14', 57'
McLaughlin 44'		 Summary (in Hebrew) Ben-Dror 20' Stadium: Yankee Stadium
Attendance: 35,000

References

  1. ↑ The First Independence Team on a Tour to the USA Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Asher Goldberg, 9 May 2011, IFA (in Hebrew)
  2. 1 2 The National Team's Tour of the USA, 1948 Archived 2015-07-19 at the Wayback Machine David Ovic, 18 August 2012, israblog.co.il (in Hebrew)
  3. ↑ Change of System in Our Team in the U.S. Arie Levin, HaMashkif, 10 October 1948, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
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