Israel's national under-19 football team ( he, נבחרת הנוער של ישראל בכדורגל עד גיל 19), also known as Israel Under-19s or Israel U19s, is regarded as the feeder team for the

Israel national under-21 football team The Israel national under-21 football team ( he, הנבחרת הצעירה של ישראל בכדורגל) is the national under-21 football team of Israel and is controlled by the Israel Football Association (IFA). It is considered to be the feed ...

. This team is for Israeli players aged 19 (or under at the start of a two-year UEFA European Under-19 Championship campaign) so players may be up to 20 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-21s and Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-17s, and Under-16s. 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 country. As of 2021, the Israel U19 home ground is the Netanya Stadium in the city of

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel.

History

The idea to form a youth team first came about in 1957, as the IFA 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. Teams The following teams entered the tournament: * * * * * * * * * * * ...

tournament. The youth team, an U19 squad, played its debut match against its England equivalent on 20 May 1962, losing 1–3. Two days later, the team recorded its first victory, winning 2–1 in a rematch. 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 in its first tournament. The team continued to win the title five more times in the next 8 years, before Israel was banned from participating in AFC tournaments. 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 and once in the South American Youth Football Championship. 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 squad began participating in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (under-18 tournament until 2002), appearing in the final tournament in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. Israel qualified for the 2023 U20 World Cup by virtue of its performance at the 2022 U19 European Championships.

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 Intercontinental Play-Off

* Despite both matches of Israel against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

being hosted in the same city of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia – Australia still won on Away goals rule, away goals.

OFC U-20 Championship

South American Youth Championship

UEFA European Under-18 Championship

UEFA European Under-19 Championship

Honours

*AFC U-19 Championship: **Winners (6): 1964, 1965 AFC Youth Championship, 1965, 1966 AFC Youth Championship, 1966, 1967 AFC Youth Championship, 1967, 1971 AFC Youth Championship, 1971, 1972 **''Third Place (1):'' 1968 AFC Youth Championship, 1968 **''Fourth Place (1):'' 1969 AFC Youth Championship, 1969 *OFC U-20 Championship, OFC Championship: **''Runners-up (2):'' 1985 OFC U-20 Championship, 1985, 1986 OFC U-20 Championship, 1986 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship: **''Runners-up (1):'' 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, 2022

Results and fixtures

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 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. ''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 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Group B

Knockout stage

Bracket

FIFA U-20 World Cup play-off

Winners qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Semi-finals

Final

Coaching staff

Players

Current squad

* The following players were called up for the 2023 UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualification matches. * Match dates: 16, 19 and 22 November 2022 * Opposition: , and *Caps and goals correct as of: 1 September 2022, after the match against .

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last twelve months and are still available for selection.

References

{{UEFA under-19 teams National youth sports teams of Israel, F Youth football in Israel European national under-19 association football teams