Rafi Levi (22 February 1938 – 25 February 2021Rafi Levi
Nostalgia Online) was an Israeli

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his career in

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

Football career

Rafi Levi won the Season Top Scorer award twice. First in the 1957–58 season with 19 goals and the second time around during the 1959–60 season with 15 goals. He also was among the top players leading

to two championships and in the 1955–56 and 1957–58 seasons, and two Israeli State Cups (1958 and 1959). Later he played in Australia and South Africa, and retired from football in 1972. Levi made 17 appearances in Israel national team. One of the best games was the victory over the

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

qualification. In the game Levi scored two goals and was considered one of the heroes (along with the Israeli goalkeeper

Ya'akov Hodorov Ya'akov "Yankele" Hodorov (Hebrew: יעקב חודורוב) (16 June 1927 – 31 December 2006) was an Israeli football goalkeeper in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is one Israel's best goalkeepers of all time and the leading goalkeeper of his ...

). This victory, one of the most surprising in the history of Israeli football, caused a great wave of elation among Israeli sports fans.

Honours

* Israeli Championship: 1955–56, 1957–58 *

State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in Israel, Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first he ...

: 1955, 1958, 1959 * National South African Championship: 1960, 1964, 1966, 1968 * South African Cup: 1965, 1966, 1967 * New South Wales Federation Championship: 1961, 1962 * New South Wales Federation Cup: 1961, 1963

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Rafi 1938 births 2021 deaths Israeli footballers Israel international footballers Association football forwards Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players highlands Park F.C. players 1960 AFC Asian Cup players Rangers F.C. (South Africa) players hapoel Ra'anana A.F.C. players Sydney City players Israeli expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Australia Israeli expatriate sportspeople in South Africa

Football career

Honours

See also

References