Jews in Soccer

History of Jews in Soccer

The "Other" Football
by the Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition)

Shortly after 1900 the brothers Neils and Harald Bohr of Denmark became famous soccer players in Scandinavia. In 1908 Harald won a silver medal in the first Olympic soccer competition. Other Olympic medalists included Sandor Geller (Hungary) in 1952 (gold); Boris Razinsky (U.S.S.R.) in 1956 (gold), and Arpad Orban (Hungary) in 1964 (gold). In the 1920s, Austria's Hakoah-Vienna All-Stars, an outstanding all-Jewish team, played a series of matches in Palestine and the United States. In New York City in 1926 Hakoah-Vienna set a U.S. single-game attendance record (46,000) that was not broken for over 40 years. Many of the teammates of Hakoah-Vienna left Austria in the 1930s and continued their soccer careers in Palestine and the United States. Bela Guttmann (1900-1981), a Hungarian who also played for Budapest's M.T.K. Club, became one of the world's top soccer coaches in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Meisel brothers, Hugo and Willy (1895-1968), were Austrian soccer personalities. Willy, who became one of Europe's most respected sportswriters, was a goalkeeper for the Austrian national team; Hugo founded the International or World Cup competition in 1927 and was head of the Austrian Football Association in the 1930s. Hungary produced many outstanding Jewish players, coaches, and administrators, beginning with a member of the first national team, Olympic swimmer Alfred Hajos (Guttmann). Mark Lazarus was a British soccer player who became the first Jewish professional to play in a Wembley Cup Final (1967). In the Soviet Union, Mikhail Romm was one of the organizers of soccer in the 1920s, and Mikhail Loshinsky played on the national team before World War II.

The Israel Football Federation was founded in Palestine in 1928 and its first international match was played in 1934. The first side representing the State of Israel played in New York City in 1948. Israel reached the quarterfinal round in the 1968 Olympic Games and the final round of 16 in the World Cup competition in 1970.

The star of the team was the captain, Mordecai ("Mottele") Spiegler.

American soccer pioneer Nathan Agar (1887-1978) introduced soccer in the New York City area in 1904 and helped found the United States Football Association in 1913. In 1929 the all-Jewish Hakoah All-Stars of New York City won the National Challenge Cup.

Johan Neeskens played for Ajax of Amsterdam who won the European Cup in 1971-73, and for World Cup finalist Netherlands in 1974 and 1978. As a player for the New York Cosmos, he was named to the North American Soccer League All-Star team in 1979.

Goalie Shep Messing was a member of the 1972 United States Olympic team and the 1977 North American League champion New York Cosmos. Goalkeeper Arnold Mausser of the Tampa Bay Rowdies was named American Player of the Year in the North American Soccer League in 1976 and goalie Alan Mayer was accorded the same honor in 1978. Mayer played for the San Diego Sockers.

The Maccabee Club of Los Angeles, which included a number of Israeli students, won the United States National Challenge Cup in 1973, 1975, and 1977-78.

Alan Rothenberg, a lawyer, was elected president of the U.S. Soccer Federation in 1990. Rothenberg served as commissioner of soccer in the 1984 Olympic Games. In 1990 Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state, was named vice chairman of the U.S. World Cup '94 organizing committee.

Yair Allnut was a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Games team and a gold medalist in the 1991 Pan American Games. Jeff Agoos represented the U.S. in international competition in 1991 and 1992, and Debbi Belkin performed with the U.S. gold medal team in the inaugural Women's World Championships in China in 1991.

The Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM contains all the text of the original 16 Keter volumes, the eight yearbooks and the two Ten-Year update volumes. In addition it includes many statistical updates and an interactive time-line. The CD has over 2500 pictures, 100 maps, slideshows, audio, and fifteen minutes of video.