Willy Ze'ev Berger ( he, וילי ברגר; 17 January 1906 – 1 July 1986) was an Israeli footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

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 ...

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

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 ...

and Hakoah Tel Aviv and for Eretz Israel football team

Club career

Berger was born in Hungary and played football as youth, appearing for the national schoolboys team, where he was first played as goalkeeper, filling in for an injured teammate. Berger played as youth with

33 FC 33 FC is a Hungarian football club from the town of Óbuda, Budapest. History 33 FC debuted in the 1902 season of the Hungarian League and finished third. From 1926 to 1929, while they were named Budai 33, legendary Hungarian footballer Pál ...

and

MTK Hungaria Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre Budapest Futball Club or shortly MTK is a Hungarian football club based in Józsefváros, Budapest. The team currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság II. The club's colours are blue and white. As one of the most suc ...

and joined the first team of VAC. In 1927 Berger was contacted to play with Maccabi HaGibor Haifa on its tour if the USA, but eventually Berger was dropped from the tour and settled in Tiberias, where he played and coached the local Maccabi team. After several months, Berger was asked to join the newly reformed

, to which he agreed. With Hapoel Tel Aviv he won the first Palestine Cup competition. Berger returned to Maccabi Tel Aviv the following season, and once again won the

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

, scoring a goal in the final. In 1930, Berger returned to Hapoel Tel Aviv and stayed with the club until 1937, winning two league championships and two

cups CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular computer printer, printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a Server (computi ...

. After 1937, Berger played with

and Hakoah Tel Aviv, before retiring in 1950.

International career

Berger was picked as goalkeeper for the first

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 exam ...

, playing against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in the 1934 World Cup qualification. The national team lost to Egypt 7–1, but Berger's performance was praised.The Ring King Farouk Gave Berger – Stolen
Ma'ariv, 17 August 1979, Historical Jewish Press

Honours

Hapoel Tel Aviv *

Palestine League The Palestine League, also known as The Eretz Israel League, was an association football league during the British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel), which was contested from 1928 to 1948. It was organised by the Eretz Israel Football Associatio ...

: 1933–34, 1934–35 *

Israel State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

Maccabi Tel Aviv * Israel State Cup:

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

* Magen Shimshon: 1925, 1926

External links

*
Willy Berger
Hapoel Wiki

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Willy 1906 births 1986 deaths Hungarian Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews Jewish footballers Israeli men's footballers Mandatory Palestine men's footballers Mandatory Palestine men's international footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Hakoah Tel Aviv F.C. players Hungarian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Place of birth missing Men's association football goalkeepers