In Israeli football (soccer), the Israel national under-19 football team () and the Israel national under-20 football team (); or simply

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Under-19s, Israel U19s; Israel Under-20s, Israel U20s - both squads are also regarded as the feeders for the Israel national under-21 team. This team is for Israeli players aged 19 (or under) at the start of a two-year

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

campaign) so players may be up to 20 years old, such as in the

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

. In addition to the Israel's senior squad, there are also the Israeli squads for U-21 players, and other youth teams such as, the U-18, the U-17, and the U-16. Players are not level or nation static so can compete at any level as long as they are eligible; U19s do not relinquish level or nation association while competing and can compete on senior side, then back to U19s, and "youth level' or senior level with another nation. As of 2021, the Israel U19 home ground is the

Netanya Stadium Miriam Stadium (), commonly known as The Diamond Stadium, is a multi-use stadium in Netanya, Israel. It is used as the permanent home ground of Maccabi Netanya F.C., Maccabi Netanya, and it has been used as the temporary homeground of Hapoel Ha ...

in the city of

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

, Israel.

History

The idea to form a youth team first came about in 1957, as the

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Act ...

(

Israel Football Association The Israel Football Association (IFA; , ''HaHit'aḥdut leKaduregel beIsrael'', ) is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes a variety of association football leagues where the highest level is the Israeli Premier League; as well a ...

) considered entering a team to the

1958 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1958 Final Tournament was held primarily in Luxembourg, but matches were also played in West Germany, Belgium and France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Wester ...

tournament. The youth team played its debut match against its England equivalent on 20 May 1962, losing 1–3. Two days later, the Israeli squad recorded its first victory, winning 2–1 in a rematch in England. In 1964, the youth team participated for its debut time in the

AFC Youth Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

tournament, sharing the cup with

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

in its first tournament in 1964. The team continued to win the title five more times in the next 8 years, before Israel was boycotted by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

and

Arab countries The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

along with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

, that voted against its participation in AFC tournaments during the 1970s. Until 1992, the youth team's only official tournaments were FIFA Youth Championship qualification tournaments, twice participating in the process in the

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, t ...

and once in the

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

. At the same period of time, to give the youth squad its share of international matches, the IFA established an annual tournament for under-18 teams, which was held in December and January between 1974 and 1989 (after which the tournament became a tournament for under-17 teams). In 1992, as Israel was admitted to

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

, the squad began participating in the

(an under-18 tournament until 2002), appearing in the final tournament in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Israel qualified for the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

by virtue of its performance at the

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2022) was the 19th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (69th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth associa ...

, finishing 2nd place after a loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the final, 1–3 after extra time (1–1 at full time). Throughout the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Israel started against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, which they lost 1–2. Then, they drew against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

1–1. They came back from behind with 10-men to beat

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

2–1, which secured Israel a spot in the knockout stage. Israel advanced out of the first knockout round with a 1–0 win against

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. In the quarter-finals, they came from behind twice to defeat 5-time South American champions

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

3–2 in extra time. However, they lost to

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in the semi-finals 0–1. Israel went on to defeat

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

3–1 to secure third place in their FIFA U-20 World Cup debut.

Results and fixtures – Israel U-20

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Group stage

The top two teams of each group and the four best third-placed teams advanced to the round of 16. All times are in

Israel Summer Time Israel Summer Time (), also known in English as Israel Daylight Time (IDT), is the practice in State of Israel, Israel by which clocks are advanced by an hour, beginning on the Friday before the last Sunday of March, and ending on the last Sund ...

(''Israel Daylight Time'', IDT), although the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup is entirely held at

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Group C

The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 16 (Eight-finals)

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

International records

FIFA U-20 World Cup

AFC U-19 Championship

* Champions* : Title shared * ''DNP'' : Did Not Participate * ''DNQ'' : Did not qualify

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...
Intercontinental play-off

* Despite both matches of Israel against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

being hosted in the same city of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia – Australia still won on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, t ...

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

UEFA European Under-18 Championship

UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Results and fixtures – Israel U-19

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Qualifiers

= Qualifying Round – Group 4

= Elite Round – Group 1

Qualified teams for the final tournament

The following teams qualified for the final tournament of the

. ''Note: All appearance statistics include only U-19 era (since 2002).''

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship - Final tournament

Group stage

The final tournament schedule was announced on 28 April 2022. The group winners and runners-up advanced to the semi-finals and qualify for the

Group B

Knockout stage

Bracket

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

Winners qualified for the

Semi-finals

Final

Coaching staff – U-19 with U-20

Players

Current squad

The following players were called for the

2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification The 2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification was a men's under-19 national football team competition that determined the seven teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Romania in the 2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship fi ...

matches against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, on 19, 22 and 25 March 2025; respectively. ''Caps and goals are correct as of 19 March 2025, after the match against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

.''

Current Under-19 squad

* The following Israeli U-19 players were called-up ahead of the

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

in March 2024. *Caps and goals correct as of: 28 February 2024, after the match against

Honours

: ** Third Place (1): 2023 *

AFC U-19 Championship The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

(Asia): **Winners (6):

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

**''Third Place (1):''

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

**''Fourth Place (1):''

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

* OFC Championship (Oceania): **''Runners-up (2):''

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

(Europe): **''Runners-up (1):''

References

Under-19 Under-19 European national under-19 association football teams European national under-20 association football teams

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Israel's head-to-head record in the

and

AFC U-20 Asian Cup The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

In
FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

In
AFC U-20 Asian Cup The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

{, class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align: center;" , - !Opponent ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Win % , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , - , align="left", , -class="sortbottom" !Total {{WDLtot, 49, 37, 8, 4, for=138, against=14, diff=yes

History

Results and fixtures – Israel U-20

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Group stage

Group C

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round of 16 (Eight-finals)

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

International records

FIFA U-20 World Cup

AFC U-19 Championship

OFC U-20 Championship The OFC U-19 Championship is a tournament held once every two years to decide the under-19 champions of Oceania and also decides who will represent Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) at the biennial FIFA U-20 World Cup. Between 1974 and 2012, t ...

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

UEFA European Under-18 Championship

UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Results and fixtures – Israel U-19

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Qualifiers

= Qualifying Round – Group 4

= Elite Round – Group 1

Qualified teams for the final tournament

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship - Final tournament

Group stage

Group B

Knockout stage

Bracket

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

Semi-finals

Final

Coaching staff – U-19 with U-20

Players

Current squad

Current Under-19 squad

Honours

See also

References

Head-to-head record

In FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

In AFC U-20 Asian Cup The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...

In
FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

In
AFC U-20 Asian Cup The AFC U-20 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC Youth Championship and AFC U-19 Championship, is a biennial international association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-20 national teams ...