Moshe Litvak ( he, משה ליטבק) was an Israeli footballer and manager. He is best known for his years at

Maccabi Rehovot Maccabi Rehovot F.C. ( he, מכבי רחובות) is an Israeli football club based in Rehovot. The club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949 and competed in the top division during the 1950s, but today plays in Liga Gimel, the ...

where he started his managerial career. He also played 6 official matches for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

between 1949 and 1954.

Playing career

Litvak was born in

Rehovot Rehovot ( he, רְחוֹבוֹת ''Rəḥōvōt'', ar, رحوڤوت ''Reḥūfūt'') is a city in the Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu movement, ...

and started playing football with

as a youth. After appearing with Fire Brigade Rehovot in

Liga Bet Liga Bet ( he, ליגה ב', lit. ''League B'') is the fourth tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into four regional divisions. History League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of ...

at the age of 14, Litvak returned to Maccabi Rehovot, with whom he played, with an exception of one season, until 1958. In 1955, Litvak took over coaching the team and served as player-manager for the next three years, quitting active play in summer 1958. Between 1949 and 1954, Litvak played in 6 official matches for the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, mostly playing as defender. Litvak played in the 1950 and

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

campaigns and took part in the national team's tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, during which the national team played one official match against the host and 10 further matches in South Africa,

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in southern Africa, south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-West ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Coaching career

Litvak started coaching in 1955, serving as a player-manager

. The club dropped to

Liga Alef Liga Alef ( he, ליגה א', , League A) is the third tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into two regional divisions, north and south. History League football began in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declar ...

at the end of the 1955–56 season, and Litvak led the team to a second-place finish at the end of the season, which would have been enough to see the club bounce back to the top division. However, due to suspicions of match-fixing during the season, an

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 Ac ...

committee decided to hold a promotion play-off between the top five clubs at the end of the season.The Ball Had Been Returned to the Footballers
Uri Dan, Ma'ariv, 9 July 1957, Historical Jewish Press Maccabi Rehovot finished fifth in the play-off and remained in

. After leaving Maccabi Rehovot in summer 1958, Litvak coached a string of teams in

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

and

, winning Liga Alef with Hakoah Tel Aviv in 1961–62 and

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The c ...

in 1970–71. Litvak's last post as head coach was in

Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...

, from which he resigned in mid-season.

Personal life

Litvak worked in

Bank Leumi Bank Leumi ( he, בנק לאומי, lit. ''National Bank''; ar, بنك لئومي) is an Israeli bank. It was founded on February 27, 1902, in Jaffa as the ''Anglo Palestine Company'' as subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust (Jüdische Kolonia ...

, progressing to management position before retiring due to old age. Litvak's son, Muli Litvak, is the owner of Coolvision, which operates several websites, among them ImLive.com.Israeli Art Patron Operates Major Porn Chat Site, TV News Show Reports
Jasmin Gueta, 16 January 2014, HaAretz

Honours

(second division) (2): ** 1961–62 (with Hakoah Tel Aviv), 1970–71 (with

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litvak, Moshe 1926 births 2012 deaths Israeli Jews Israeli men's footballers Maccabi Rehovot F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Rehovot F.C. managers Hapoel Rehovot F.C. managers Shimshon Tel Aviv F.C. managers Hakoah Tel Aviv F.C. managers Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan F.C. managers Hapoel Ramla F.C. managers Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim F.C. managers Hapoel Kiryat Ono F.C. managers Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. managers Hapoel Jerusalem F.C. managers Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. managers Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards Israeli football managers Footballers from Rehovot