Sport in Israel plays an important role in

Israeli culture The culture of Israel is closely associated with Jewish culture and rooted in the Jewish history of the Jewish diaspora, diaspora and Zionism, Zionist movement. It has also been influenced by Arab culture and the history and traditions of the Ara ...

and is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Sport. The most popular sports in Israel have traditionally been

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

(mainly) and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(secondly) – with the first being considered the

national sport A national sport is a physical activity or sport that is culturally significant or deeply embedded in a nation, serving as a national symbol and an intrinsic element to a nation's identity and culture. Several sovereign states and constituent ...

– in both of which Israeli professional teams have been competitive internationally. Israel is an international center for Jewish sport around the world and since 1932 the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics") is an international multi-sport event with summer and winter sports competitions featuring Jews and Israelis regardless of religion ...

, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes, is held in the country. Despite Israel's location in the Asian continent, the Israeli sports associations in various sports belong to the European associations due to the refusal of many Arab Asian countries to compete with Israeli athletes. The government's support and budgeting of sports in Israel is relatively low in comparison to other western countries. However, many Israeli athletes and teams managed to gain international success. The

Israel national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team () represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 39th in the FIBA Men's World Ranking, FIBA World Ran ...

has won 2 gold medals in the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

and 1 silver medal at the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, and basketball club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

is considered one of the best teams in Europe with 6 European titles. The

Israel national football team The Israel national football team () represents Israel in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Israel Football Association. They have been members of the European Confederation UEFA since 1994. Israel qua ...

has won the

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

and the

Israel Davis Cup team The Israel men's national tennis team (Hebrew: נבחרת גביע דייוויס של ישראל) represents Israel in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Israel Tennis Association. As of June 2020, Jonathan Erlich became Capta ...

reached the semifinal of the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

. At the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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 ...

has won 20 medals.

History

Jewish physical fitness was promoted in the 19th century by

Max Nordau Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld; 29 July 1849 – 23 January 1923) was a Hungarian Zionism, Zionist leader, physician, author, and Social criticism, social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theo ...

and his concept of

Muscular Judaism Muscular Judaism () is a term coined by Max Nordau in his speech at the Second Zionist Congress held in Basel on August 28, 1898. In his speech, he spoke about the need to design the " new Jew" and reject the " old Jew", with the mental and physi ...

. The

, an Olympic-style event for Jewish athletes inaugurated in 1932 is held every fours years. In 1964, Israel hosted and won the

. In 1970, the

qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, which was considered a major achievement for Israeli football. Israel was excluded from the

1978 Asian Games The 8th Asian Games (), also known as Bangkok 1978 (), were held from 9 to 20 December 1978, in Bangkok, Thailand. Originally, the host city was Singapore but Singapore dropped its plan to host the Games due to financial problems. Then Islamabad, ...

due to Arab pressure.

Major sports

Football

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: , ''Kaduregel'') is the most popular sport in

. The sport is governed by

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 ...

. It joined the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

in 1954, but was expelled in 1974 due to political pressure from Arab and Muslim members in the context of the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

. It 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 ...

as an associate member in 1992 and as a full member in 1994, therefore their teams compete as part of Europe in all international competitions. The matches that draw the largest crowds are those of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

. In 1967,

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () 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, such as football, basketball, w ...

became the first club to win the Asian Club Championships. In the

2001–02 UEFA Cup The 2001–02 UEFA Cup was won by Feyenoord at their home ground in the final against Borussia Dortmund. It was the second time they won the competition. Liverpool could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2001–02 ...

Hapoel reached the quarter-finals after knocking out Chelsea,

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

and

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. Israeli teams were also qualified five times to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

group stage, including

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa () is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football, Basketball, Weightl ...

in the 2002–03 and 2009–10 seasons,

in the 2004–05 and 2015–16 seasons and

in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season. The

hosted and won the

1964 AFC Asian Cup The 1964 AFC Asian Cup was the 3rd edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Israel from 26 May to 3 June 1964. The tournament ...

and qualified for the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

, which was held in Mexico.

Mordechai Spiegler Mordechai "Motaleh" Spiegler (; born 19 August 1944) is an Israeli retired football player and manager. A prolific forward, he is placed second in Israel's all time goalscoring list, with 32 goals in 83 caps. Early life Mordechai Spiegler was ...

scored in a 1–1 draw against Sweden. Israel's Olympic football team qualified for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

and the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

both times reaching the quarter-finals. Israel's highest

FIFA ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

was 15th in November 2008. Famous matches of the Israeli football team include the 3–2 win in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the 1994 world championship qualifying games, which ended up disqualifying the French team from the championship in the United States, the defeat of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

5–0 in 1999 during

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualifications, and a 2–1 win over

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 ...

in a friendly match in 1998, a game played in

Teddy Stadium Teddy Stadium () is a sports stadium in Jerusalem. Two major Israeli football clubs currently use it as their home ground: Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem. The Israel national football team also uses it for select home matches. The stadi ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Successful Israeli players who also played outside Israel include

Eli Ohana Eliyahu "Eli" Ohana (; born ) is an Israeli former professional footballer and the former chairman of Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem. He played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Beitar Jerusalem, KV Mechelen, S.C. Braga, and the I ...

Giora Spiegel Giora Spiegel (; born July 27, 1947) is an Israeli former Association football, footballer and coach. As a footballer, he holds the Israel national football team records, record for the longest Israel national football team, Israeli international ...

Ronny Rosenthal Ronny Rosenthal (; born 11 October 1963), nicknamed "Rocket Ronny", is an Israeli former footballer who played as a forward. After starting his career in his birth city with Maccabi Haifa, Rosenthal went on to play in Belgium with Club Brugge ...

Avi Cohen Avraham "Avi" Cohen (; 14 November 1956 – 29 December 2010) was an Israeli footballer who played as a defender, and a manager. He was best known for his spells playing for two British clubs: Liverpool in England and Rangers in Scotland. Aft ...

, Eyal Berkovich,

Haim Revivo Haim Michael Revivo (; born 22 February 1972) is an Israeli former professional association football, footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder or winger (association football), winger, and a businessman. Early life Revivo is Jews, Jewi ...

Dudu Aouate David "Dudu" Aouate (or Awat, , ''pronounced Dūdū Ahwaht''; born 17 October 1977) is an Israeli retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After playing for several clubs in his country, most notably Maccabi Haifa, he moved t ...

and

Yossi Benayoun Yossi Shai Benayoun (; born 5 May 1980) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in Israel and England and captained the Israel national team. Born in Dimona, he is sometimes nicknamed ...

. Notable Israeli players have included: *

, Israel, goalkeeper (

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

& national team) *

Tal Ben Haim Tal Ben Haim (or Tal Ben Haim I, ; born 31 March 1982) is an Israeli former professional association football, footballer who played at either centre back or right back (association football), right back. He has played for Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. ...

, Israel, center back/right back ( Chelsea,

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

& national team captain) *

, Israel, attacking midfielder ( Chelsea,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

& national team captain) *

Eyal Berkovic Eyal Berkovic (or Berkovich, ; born 2 April 1972) is an Israeli former professional association footballer, football coach, team owner and television talk show presenter. As a player he was an Attacking Midfielder, attacking midfielder who spen ...

, Israel, midfielder (

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a professional Association football, football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football league system, Scottish ...

national team) *

, Israel, defender (

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

& national team) *

Yaniv Katan Yaniv Katan (; born 27 January 1981) is a retired Israeli international footballer who played professionally for Maccabi Haifa, as a forward and winger. He earned 31 caps for Israel, scoring five goals. Personal life Katan was born in Kiryat A ...

, Israel, forward/winger (

& national team) *

, Israel, won

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

and

Bravo Award The Bravo Award was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine ''Guerin Sportivo'' to the most outstanding young European Association football, footballer. The first winner of the award was Englishman Jimmy Case. The first no ...

(most outstanding young player in Europe); national team; manager *

, Israel, attacking/side midfielder (

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was foun ...

, Fenerbahçe & national team) *

Ronnie Rosenthal Ronny Rosenthal (; born 11 October 1963), nicknamed "Rocket Ronny", is an Israeli former footballer who played as a forward. After starting his career in his birth city with Maccabi Haifa, Rosenthal went on to play in Belgium with Club Brugg ...

, Israel, left winger/striker (

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

& national team) *

, Israel, midfielder (Israel national team) *

, Soviet Union/Israel, striker (Israel national team), manager * Yochanan Vollach, Israel, defender (

& Israel national team)

Basketball

Basketball (כדורסל, ''Kadursal'') is the second most popular sport in Israel.

Hapoel Jerusalem Hapoel Jerusalem is a sport organization in Jerusalem as a local branch of the Hapoel movement. The branch was established in the 1920s and represents the city in more sports than any other sport organization in Jerusalem. Today, the club's lead ...

and

dominate the domestic league and are among the top teams in Europe. Maccabi Tel Aviv has won the

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

championship 6 times, in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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 ...

. Hapoel Jerusalem won the Eurocup in 2004. The

has participated 23 times in the

. Their best achievements were a silver medal in EuroBasket 1979, and 5th place in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

and

. The national team also played in two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and once in the

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

Israeli basketball is known for its national under-20 team, winning back to back gold medals in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, three silver medals in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, and finishing 4th three times (1994, 2005, 2022), 5th (1992), and 6th (2007). Israel U-20 also took place in the U-21 World Championship, finishing twice in 7th place (2001,2005), and 6th place (1993). The renowned "Israeli coaching school" produced many of the most successful European basketball coaches, such as

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

Pini Gershon Pinhas "Pini" Gershon (; born 13 November 1951), is an Israeli former professional basketball player and coach. He won three top-level European-wide club championships as the head coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv. He won the FIBA SuproLeague champions ...

David Blatt David Michael Blatt (; born May 22, 1959) is an Israeli-American professional basketball executive. He is also a former coach and player. Blatt played point guard at Princeton University from 1977 to 1981 and played in the Maccabiah Games for ...

, and

Zvi Sherf Zvi Sherf (; born December 18, 1951, in Tel Aviv, Israel), known almost universally by his nickname Zvika (), is an Israeli former basketball player and professional basketball coach. Coaching career Sherf played basketball with the Maccabi Tel A ...

Deni Avdija Deni Avdija ( ; ; born 3 January 2001) is an Israeli professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the small forward position, and is nicknamed "Turbo" for his fast-paced dri ...

is an active player in the NBA,

Omri Casspi Omri Moshe Casspi (; born June 22, 1988) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He mainly played at the small forward position, but also played at the power forward position. Casspi was drafted 23rd overall in the 2009 NBA draft b ...

previously played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Gal Mekel Gal Mekel (, pronounced ; born March 4, 1988) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He played for the Dallas Mavericks and spent time in Europe and Israel. He played college basketball for two years at Wichita State University. He ...

, previously played in the NBA and

Shay Doron Shay Doron (; born April 1, 1985) is an Israeli professional basketball player in the Israeli league. She plays for Maccabi Ashdod. Biography Doron was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, to Yehuda and Tamari Doron. For her first two years in hig ...

previously played in the WNBA.

coached the NBA

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

. Other notable Israeli basketball players have included: * Moshe "Miki" Berkovich, Israel, Euroleague, 6'4"

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

* Oded Kattash, Israel, Euroleague, 6'4"

Doron Sheffer Doron Sheffer (; born 12 March 1972) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He spent most of his club career playing with Maccabi Tel Aviv. During his playing career he played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. During ...

, Israel, NCAA, Euroleague, 6'5" point guard *

Nadav Henefeld Nadav Henefeld (; born June 19, 1968) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. During his playing career, he was a 2.00 m (6'6 ") tall power forward. Early career Henefeld was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, and he initially played pr ...

, Israel, NCAA, Eurolegue, 6'7 power forward *

Tal Brody Talbot "Tal" Brody (Hebrew language, Hebrew: טל ברודי; born August 30, 1943), nicknamed Mr. Basketball, is an American-Israeli former professional basketball player and current goodwill ambassador of Israel. Brody was drafted #12 in the 1 ...

, US & Israel, Euroleague 6' 2"

Lior Eliyahu Lior Eliyahu (; born 9 September 1985) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He is 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) in height and he weighs 105 kg (225 pounds). He plays at the Power forward (basketball), power forward position. He was ...

, Israel, 6' 9" power forward, NBA draft 2006 (

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

; traded to

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

) *

Yotam Halperin Yotam Halperin (; born January 24, 1984) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He is currently the sporting director for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League and the Champions League. He is a 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) t ...

, Israel, 6' 5" guard, drafted in 2006 NBA draft by

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

, Israel, 6' 9" power forward, drafted in 2009 NBA draft by

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, Israel, 6' 3" guard, drafted in 2009 NBA draft by

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

, Israel, 6' 9" power forward, drafted in 2019 NBA draft by

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

Baseball

Baseball was first introduced into the region on July 4, 1927, when baseball equipment was distributed at the Sephardic Orphanage in Jerusalem. The

Israel Baseball League The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a five-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. The league was discontinue ...

, managed by Larry Baras, was established in 2007. It was the first professional baseball league in the Middle East. In its first and only season it had six teams that played in three stadiums. The first and only champions were the

Bet Shemesh Blue Sox The Beit Shemesh Blue Sox () were an Israeli baseball team from Bet Shemesh. The Blue Sox was one of the inaugural teams in the Israel Baseball League. They had the best regular season record (29–12, .707), and won the inaugural championship A ...

managed by

Ron Blomberg Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter, first baseman, and right fielder. He played ...

. The

Israel national baseball team The Israel National Baseball Team () represents Israel in international competitions. It is managed by Ian Kinsler. At the 2017 WBC, Team Israel came in 6th. In 2022, Israel was ranked 20th in the world. The Israel national baseball team compete ...

applied, unsuccessfully, to participate in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an International Baseball Federation, international baseball competition. It began on March 5 and finished March 23. Unlike in 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2006, when the Round-robin tournament, round- ...

. They were subsequently invited to participate in the newly created qualifying round of the

2013 World Baseball Classic The 2013 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, held from March 2 to 19, 2013. This was the third iteration of the WBC, following the two previous tournaments, held in 2006 and 2009. Unlike the tw ...

. During the

2017 World Baseball Classic The 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, composed of 16 competing nations, held from March 6 to 22, 2017. It was the fourth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. The first-round hosts wer ...

qualifier Israel qualified for the main tournament and finished in sixth place. Team Israel won the 2019 European Baseball Championship – B-Pool in early July 2019 in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultura ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, winning all five of its games. It thus advanced to the playoffs against Team Lithuania in the 2019 Playoff Series at the end of July 2019 for the last qualifying spot for the

2019 European Baseball Championship The 2019 European Baseball Championship was an international baseball tournament organized by the Confederation of European Baseball. The 2019 Championship was held September 7–15, 2019, in Bonn and Solingen, Germany. The tournament contribu ...

."> "Meet the Senior National Team Coach: Eric Holtz,"
IAB – Israel Association of Baseball. Israel won the best-of-three playoff series 2–0, and thereby qualified for the

. In Round 1 of the 2019 European Baseball Championship, Israel went 4–1. The team thereby advanced to the Championship's eight-team playoffs. In the Championship playoffs, Israel defeated Team France in the quarterfinals, lost to Team Italy in the semi-finals, and came in fourth. Because Team Israel finished in the top five in the 2019 European Baseball Championship, it earned the right to participate in the 2020 Olympics qualifiers Africa/Europe Qualifying Event. As the winner of that tournament it qualified to be one of the six national teams that competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Every member of the 24-member Team Israel that competed to qualify in the Olympics was Israeli, with four of the players native-born. The others made ''

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

'' to Israel, under Israel's

Law of Return The Law of Return (, ''ḥok ha-shvūt'') is an Israeli law, passed on 5 July 1950, which gives Jews, people with one or more Jewish grandparent, and their spouses the right to Aliyah, relocate to Israel and acquire Israeli nationality law, Isra ...

, which gives anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent or who is married to a Jew the right to return to Israel and be granted Israeli citizenship.

Chess

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

is a leading sport in Israel. There are many Israeli grandmasters and

Israeli chess players Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

have won a number of youth world championships. Israel stages an annual international

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

and hosted the

World Team Chess Championship The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent. It is played every two years. In chess, this tournament and the Chess Olympiads ...

in 2005. The Ministry of Education and the

World Chess Federation The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the gove ...

agreed upon a project of teaching chess within Israeli schools, and it has been introduced into the curriculum of some schools. The city of

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

has become a national chess center, with the game being taught in its kindergartens. Owing partly to Soviet immigration, it is home to the largest number of

chess grandmasters Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance. It is played on a square board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to ...

of any city in the world. The Israeli chess team won the silver medal at the 2008 Chess Olympiad and the bronze, coming in third among 148 teams, at the 2010 Olympiad. Israeli grandmaster

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

won the

Chess World Cup 2009 The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2012. Boris ...

. While

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, as an intellectual sport, has always been played in Israel, the arrival of large numbers of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s brought many

to Israel and increased interest in the game.

Swimming

Israel Swimming Association The Israel Swimming Association (Hebrew: איגוד השחיה בישראל), founded in 1995 is the governing body of swimming in Israel. It brings together all clubs in the country, organizes the Israeli Swimming Championships as well as the sw ...

is the major swimming federation in Israel. Swimming is popular in Israel's many beaches along the

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eu ...

, the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

(including open-water swimming marathons), in the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

at the shores of

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

, in the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

and in swimming pools. Famous Israeli swimmers include Eithan Urbach, Michael Halika,

Gal Nevo Gal Nevo (; born 29 June 1987) is a record-holding Israeli swimmer. Biography Gal Nevo was born in Kibbutz Hamadia in the Beit She'an Valley. When the local swimming pool closed, Nevo would practice at Gan HaShlosha National Park.Yoav Gath Yoav Gath (; born November 8, 1980) is an Olympic and national-record backstroke swimmer from Israel. He swam for Israel at the 2000 Olympics. Biography Yoav Gath was born in Haifa. He trained at Hapoel Kiryat-Tivon swimming club coached by And ...

, Yoav Bruck, Vered Borochovski,

Amit Ivry Amit Ivry (; born September 2, 1989, in Eilat, Israel) is an Israeli Olympic swimmer, Maccabiah Games champion, and national record holder. She competes in the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and medley. Ivry won a gold medal at the 2009 ...

, and Anna Gostomelsky. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Israel's team qualified to the final of the prestigious Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay. Uri Bergman won 12 gold medals at the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

, and other paralympic swimmers such as Izhak Mamistvalov and Keren Leibovitch won several gold medals as well. The country's first swimming pool was built in 1933 as part of the Jerusalem YMCA. The first regulation-size swimming pool was built in 1935, just before the second

Maccabiah The Maccabiah Games (, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics") is an international multi-sport event with summer and winter sports competitions featuring Jews and Israelis regardless of religion ...

, in

Bat Galim Bat Galim (, ''lit.'' Daughter of the Waves) is a neighborhood of Haifa, Israel, located at the foot of Mount Carmel on the Mediterranean coast. Bat Galim is known for its promenade and sandy beaches. The neighborhood spans from Rambam hospital i ...

Rowing

Rowing is a growing sport in Israel, and has seen a major breakthrough in recent years
Dani Fridman
Israel Champion, is currently ranked 10th in the world, and

Moran Samuel Moran Samuel (; April 24, 1982) is an Israeli paralympic basketball player and world champion rower. She was chosen to light a ceremonial torch on Israel's Independence Day in 2019. She represented Israel at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. She won ...

is Israel's 1st rowing world champion (paralympic). Samuel, won her first Paralympic bronze medal, after coming 3rd at the Rio

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, f ...

. Other Rio 2016 participants are Yulia Chernoy and Reuven Magnagey, who rowed together in a double scull boat and finished 9th. Th
Daniel Rowing Centre
in Tel Aviv is Israel's prime training facility, and the home of the national Olympic and Paralympic squad. The sport is practiced in Tel Aviv

Yarkon River The Yarkon River, also Yarqon River or Jarkon River (, ''Nahal HaYarkon''; , ''Nahr al-Auja''), is a river in central Israel. The source of the Yarkon ("Greenish" in Hebrew) is at Tel Afek (Antipatris), north of Petah Tikva. It flows west throu ...

Kishon

Port of Haifa The Port of Haifa ('';'' ) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. Its natural deep-water harbor operates all year long and serves both passenger and merchant shi ...

an
Tiberius

. Other prominent athletes ar
Oleg GonorovskiTomer ShvartsmanRoni Iuster
an
Diana Egerton-Warburton
Th
Israeli Rowing Federation
is an active member of the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (officially FISA; ), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2 ...

�
FISA

Tennis

Highly ranked players include

Shlomo Glickstein Shlomo Glickstein (; born 6 January 1958) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in November 1982, and his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 28 in February 1986. Early ...

(world ranked #22 at his peak),

Amos Mansdorf Amos Mansdorf (; born 20 October 1965) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 18 (achieved in November 1987), the highest ever for any male Israeli tennis player. His career-high doubles r ...

(ranked #18 at his best),

Dudi Sela David "Dudi" Sela (; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009. Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel Davis Cup te ...

(ranked #29 at his best),

Anna Smashnova Anna Aleksandrovna Smashnova (, ; born July 16, 1976) is a Soviet-born Israeli former tennis player. She retired from professional tour after Wimbledon 2007. Smashnova reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in 2003. She reached ...

(ranked #15 at her best),

Shahar Pe'er Shahar Pe'er (, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player. Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the International Tennis Federation, ITF circuit in her career ...

(ranked #11 at her best) as well as the doubles team of

Andy Ram Andreas "Andy" Ram (; born April 10, 1980) is a retired Israeli professional tennis player. He was primarily a doubles player, and competed in three Olympics. He is the first Israeli tennis player to win a senior Grand Slam event. Ram first ...

and

Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich (; born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the 2008 Australian Open – Men's doubles, 2008 Aus ...

(world #5 team in 2006 and 2008 Australian Open champions) – all of whom have trained at the

Israel Tennis Centers Israel Tennis Centers ("ITC"; Hebrew language, Hebrew: המרכז לטניס בישראל) is the largest tennis, social service agency for children in Israel, serving more than a half million children and their families since its first center ope ...

. Since 2008, both men's and the women's teams have qualified for the top groups in the world – the men are in the

world group, and the women are in the

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

world group I. In December 2012, 12-year-old Yshai Oliel of

Ramla Ramla (), also known as Ramle (, ), is a city in the Central District of Israel. Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with significant numbers of both Jews and Arabs. The city was founded in the early 8th century CE by the Umayyad caliph S ...

, won the 51st Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship for his age group.

Track and field

Track and field

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

in Israel are mainly focused around the

and the international

, where Israel has achieved notable successes during its short history. The

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

-born Aleksandr Averbukh was the most successful Israeli track and field athlete, having won three gold medals in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

at European championships ( 2000 — indoor,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

) as well as two medals at the World championships (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

). On August 5, 2022, Israeli-born

Blessing Afrifah Blessing Akwasi Afrifah (; born 26 October 2003) is an Israeli track and field athlete who specializes in the sprints. He was the 200 metres champion at both the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships, and at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Cham ...

won the gold medal in the 200 meter race at the

World Athletics U20 Championships The World Athletics U20 Championships is a biennial world championships for the sport of athletics organised by the World Athletics, contested by athletes in the under-20 athletics age category (19 years old or younger on 31 December in the yea ...

Marathons

Long-distance running is popular in Israel. The

Tiberias Marathon The Tiberias Marathon is an annual marathon road race held along the Sea of Galilee in Israel. At approximately 200 meters below sea level, this is the lowest course in the world. The competition was first held in 1977, and also hosts the annual I ...

, Tel Aviv Marathon, and the

Jerusalem Marathon The Jerusalem Marathon () is an annual marathon running event held in Jerusalem during the month of March or April. The course begins at Israel's parliament (the Knesset) and the Israel Museum, passes through Mount Scopus and the Old City, an ...

take place annually in January, February, and March respectively. Another half marathon is held annually at

Ein Gedi Ein Gedi (, ), also spelled En Gedi, meaning "Spring (hydrology), spring of the goat, kid", is an oasis, an Archaeological site, archeological site and a nature reserve in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves. ...

, near the

. There are various other shorter distance races over the course of the year through very different regions and terrains.

Maru Teferi Maru Abinet Teferi (; ; born 17 August 1992), also known as Teferi Marhu, is an Israeli marathon and half marathon runner, and an Olympian. He won a silver medal in men's marathon at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, a silver medal in m ...

is an Israeli two-time Olympic marathoner. He won a silver medal in marathon at the

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

, a silver medal in marathon at the

2022 European Athletics Championships The 2022 European Athletics Championships were the 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships and were held in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 21 August 2022. They were part of the 2022 European Championships, European Championships, a multi ...

, and the gold medal at the 2022 Fukuoka International Marathon.

Minor sports

American football

The center of American football in Israel is the

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

Family Stadium in

. Currently, there are 4 leagues playing

Flag Football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

. The WAFI which has 13 teams: high school level which has 12 teams and a youth team, all under the association of The AFI. In addition, there are three leagues playing tackle-football: a junior high school football league (which has donated equipment), a high school league – IHFL and an adult's league – IFL (

Israeli Football League The Israel Football League (IFL; ), also known as the Kraft Family Israel Football League for sponsorship reasons with the Robert Kraft, Kraft Family, is an amateur American football Sports league, league consisting of eight teams. The IFL is the ...

). The IFL has 11 teams coming from

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva (, ), also spelt Petah Tiqwa and known informally as Em HaMoshavot (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of the Old Y ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

and

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon (, ) is an affluent city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon region, bordering the cities of Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon, Hod-HaSharon to the east, and Herzliya and kibbutz ...

. The game is mainly played by ex-pats from America, South Africa, England and France. The largest league in 2007 was men's contact who competed in the annual Holyland Bowl championship. Some 1000 players are involved in weekly football activities. In 2015 the

Israel national American football team The Israel national American football team is the official American football senior national team of Israel. The team formed in 2012, mainly with Israeli Football League players and coaching staff. First game The first international American ...

had their first international game, in the qualifier for the European Championship.

Boxing

In Israel, boxing is not just a sport but an educational vehicle for helping young people overcome prejudices. The Israel Boxing Association (IBA) operates certified gyms in cities throughout the country, with 1,800 active members from Arab villages and Ethiopian and Russian immigrant population centers. Boxers as young as 11 train and participate in matches organized by the association. Israeli Yuri Foreman is a former

World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is an international professional boxing organization based in Panama. The WBA awards its world championship title at the professional level. Founded ...

super welterweight champion. Roman Greenberg is currently

International Boxing Organization The International Boxing Organization (IBO) is a US based corporation that sanctions professional boxing matches and awards world and regional championships. It is an independent organization not recognized by the "big four" governing bodies ...

's (IBO's) Intercontinental

heavyweight champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

. Hagar Finer is the WIBF champion bantamweight. Adi Rotem of

is the current world champion in

Thai boxing Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinching technique ...

in the under-52 kilogram class. Ilya Grad is considered one of the eight best amateur Thai boxers in the world. In February 2012, Grad won the WCK international title in China and was permitted to enter Malaysia, which has no diplomatic relations with Israel, on an Israeli passport. Ido Pariente is an Israel lightweight Pankration World Champion.

Canoeing

Michael Kolganov Michael "Misha" Kolganov (or Kalganov, , ; born 24 October 1974) is a USSR-born Israeli sprint kayaker and former two-time world champion (1998 & 1999). Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the K-1 500 m event ...

, a Soviet (Uzbek)-born Israeli sprint canoer, has been a world champion and won an Olympic bronze in the K-1 500-meter.

Cricket

became an associate member of the ICC in 1974. Israel competed in the

1979 ICC Trophy The 1979 ICC Trophy was a limited overs cricket tournament held in England between 22 May and 21 June 1979. It was the inaugural ICC Trophy tournament to be staged, with matches between the 15 participating teams played over 60 overs a side and ...

, the inaugural edition of what is now the

Cricket World Cup Qualifier The Cricket World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the qualification proc ...

, but failed to get past the first round. They also failed to progress beyond the first round in the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and 1986 tournaments. They reached the plate competition of the ICC Trophy in 1990 and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and in 1996 competed in their first

in Denmark, finishing eighth in the eight team tournament. In the

1997 ICC Trophy The Carlsberg 1997 ICC Trophy was a cricket tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 24 March and 13 April 1997. It was the Cricket World Cup qualification tournament for the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Bangladesh were the winners of the ...

in Malaysia, they faced political demonstrations throughout the tournament from the Islamic Party of Malaysia. They were the first Israeli sports team to play in the country and finished in 21st place. In 1998, they finished ninth in the European Championship ahead of only

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

and the following year travelled to Gibraltar to take part in a quadrangular tournament also involving

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Israel have been playing in Division Two of the European Championships since 2000, finishing fifth in 2000, fourth in 2002, sixth in 2004 and seventh in 2006. In November 2007, Israel were defeated in a relegation match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, in the first international cricket game played in Israel. The loss meant that they were relegated from Europe Division Two to Europe Division Three. In 2009 they were re-promoted to second division with a win over Croatia. At the 2016 ICC Europe Division Two tournament Israel finished fourth, behind

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

There is a night cricket league playing a modified form of indoor cricket.

Curling

Israel national men's curling team has been competing as part of the European playdowns since 2014. Israel has sent teams to the world mixed, world mixed doubles and world men's seniors competitions as well.

Equestrian

Notable Israeli equestrians include: *

Daniel Bluman Daniel Bluman (; born 15 March 1990) is an Olympic show jumping rider. Born in Colombia, he represents Israel internationally and competed for his country of birth in the past. Bluman qualified to represent Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics in ...

(born 1990), Colombian-born Israeli Olympic

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

rider

Fencing

Notable Israeli fencers have included: *

Boaz Ellis Boaz Ellis (; born October 15, 1981) is an Israeli foil fencer. He is a 5-time Israeli national champion, and a 3-time NCAA champion. Biography Ellis was born in Tzippori, a moshav in Israel, and is Jewish. He attended Chaklai Nahalal High Sch ...

(foil), five-time Israeli champion * Delila Hatuel (foil), Olympian, ranked ninth in the world * Lydia Hatuel-Czuckermann (foil), 20x Israeli champion * Noam Mills (épée), female Olympic fencer, junior world champion *

Ayelet Ohayon Ayelet Ohayon (; born October 20, 1974) is a three-time Olympian Israeli foil fencer. She also won the silver medal at the 1993 Junior World Cup Championships, the gold medal at the 2000 European Championships, and a gold medal at the 2009 Macc ...

(foil), European champion *

Yuval Freilich Yuval Shalom Freilich (; born 24 January 1995) is an Israeli left-handed épée fencing, fencer, ranked 9th in the world in 2023-24. In both 2014 and 2015 Freilich won the European Men's Épée Junior Championship. He won the individual épée go ...

(épée), European champion (

) *

Andre Spitzer Andre Spitzer (; ; 4 July 1945 – 6 September 1972) was an Israeli fencing master and coach of Israel's 1972 Summer Olympics team. He was one of 11 athletes and coaches taken hostage and subsequently killed by terrorists in the Munich massacr ...

, killed by terrorists

Figure skating

Israel has one regulation

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

, located in Metulla, a city on the Lebanese border. Israel has been sending teams to the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

since 1994. In 2002,

Galit Chait Galit Chait (, ''Galit Hayat''; born on January 29, 1975) is an Israeli former competitive ice dancer. She and her partner Sergei Sakhnovski competed internationally for Israel from 1995 to 2006, becoming the 2002 World bronze medalists. Person ...

(world championship bronze medalist) and Sergei Sakhnovski (world championship bronze medalist) finished sixth in

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. Alexandra Zaretski,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian, and Roman Zaretski, Belarusian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian a brother and sister ice-dancing pair, came in ninth in the 2008 world championships and first in the 2009

World University Games The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...

. Other notable Israeli skaters include: * Alexei Beletski, Ukrainian-born Israeli, ice dancer, Olympian * Natalia Gudina, Ukrainian-born Israeli, figure skater, Olympian * Tamar Katz, US-born Israeli, figure skater * Lionel Rumi, Israel, ice dancer * Michael Shmerkin, Soviet-born Israeli, figure skater

Golf

Israel has a single 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

named Caesarea Golf & Country Club and located in the town of

Caesarea Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title " Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire: Places In the Levant * Caesarea Maritima, also known as "Caesarea Palaestinae", an ancient Roman city near the modern ...

and a smaller 9 hole course called Gaash Golf Club located at

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ga'ash. Notable Israeli golfers include Big Break contestant Oren Geri
Ron “Racehorse” Smith
Rami Asayag, Asher Iyasu and world blind golfing champion Zohar Sharon. Laetitia Beck has won the Israeli Championship five times, including for the first time when she was 12 years of age, and won gold medals in golf in both the 2009 and 2013 Maccabiah Games, and is the first Israeli to compete in an

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

tournament.

Gymnastics

Israeli gymnast

Neta Rivkin Neta Rivkin (; born June 19, 1991) is a retired Israeli individual rhythmic gymnast. She is one of Israel's most successful rhythmic gymnasts. A three-time Olympian, in 2011 she won the silver medal in clubs at the 2011 European Championships. ...

won a silver medal in the

Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships The Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships are the European championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. They were first held in 1978. The European Championships and the European Junior Championships were united in 1993. Prior to 2006 ...

held in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

in 2011, to become the first gymnast of the country to win a medal at the European Championships. Rivkin also won the first world medal for Israel in rhythmic gymnastics at the

World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships The Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are the world championships for the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. The tournament is promoted and organized by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). It is one of the three tournaments in rh ...

held in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France in 2011, and she won the bronze medal at the hoop final. The Israeli rhythmic gymnastic group also won the bronze medal at the event final of 3 ribbons and 2 hoops at the World Championships in Montpellier.

Linoy Ashram Linoy Ashram (; born ) is a retired Israeli individual Rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnast. She is the Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's rhythmic individual all-around, 2020 Olympic All-around Champion, the 2018 Rhythmic Gymnas ...

became the first Israeli rhythmic gymnast to win an individual all-around medal at the 2017 World Championships. She is the most decorated Israeli rhythmic gymnast, with 6 silver and 5 bronze medals at the World Championships (2017, 2018, 2019), 2 bronze medals at the 2017 European Championships and 2 gold and 2 silver medals at the 2019 European Games and recently at the 2020 European Championships, she won the gold medal in the Individual All-Around Event making her the first Israeli to win an All Around gold medal in the European Championships. In 2013,

Alexander Shatilov Alexander "Alex" Shatilov (, ; born March 22, 1987) is a USSR-born Israeli artistic gymnast. He specializes in the floor exercise, in which he won several medals at World and European Championships, reached the finals at the 2008 and 2012 Summe ...

won a gold medal at the European championship in gymnastics in Moscow, Russia. In 2017,

Artem Dolgopyat Artem Olegovich Dolgopyat (; ; born 16 June 1997) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli artistic gymnast who specializes in the floor exercise. He is the 2020 Olympic champion and the 2023 World champion in the floor exercise. He also won two sil ...

, an Israeli artistic gymnast, won a silver medal at the World Championships. In 2021,

, an Israeli artistic gymnast, won a gold medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Handball

Israel's men's national handball team participated in the 2002

European Men's Handball Championship The European Men's Handball Championship is the official competition for senior men's national handball teams of Europe and takes place every two years since 1994, in the even-numbered year between the World Championship. In addition to crowning ...

in Sweden. Local power Hapoel Rishon Lezion qualified for the quarterfinals of the

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

in 2000.

Ice hockey

Ice hockey started in Israel in 1986 when the first rink opened in

Kiryat Motzkin Kiryat Motzkin () is a city in the Haifa District of Israel, north of the city center of Haifa. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, in it had a population of . However, as of September 2024, the unofficial population count is 55 ...

. Israel has a following of over 1,000 ice hockey players. Israel took part in the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Ice Hockey Division II World Championships. Notable players have included: *

Eliezer Sherbatov Eliezer "Elie" Alexeevich Sherbatov (; born 9 October 1991) is an Israeli-Canadian ice hockey player who plays for the Jonquière Marquis of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey, after having played for HC Mariupol of the Ukrainian Hockey Leagu ...

, Israel, left wing (

Israel men's national ice hockey team The Israel national ice hockey team () is the national men's ice hockey team of Israel. Israel was ranked 35th as of May 2017 by the International Ice Hockey Federation. In 2019, the team won the gold medal in the 2019 IIHF World Championship Div ...

) * Max Birbraer, Russian from Kazakhstan; lived & played in Israel; 1st Israeli drafted by NHL team (

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

) * Oren Eizenman (Israel national team)

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is the country's fastest growing sport. The

Israel men's national lacrosse team The Israel men's national lacrosse team is governed by the Israel Lacrosse Association. Their best finish was at the 2016 European Lacrosse Championship, winning the silver medal. Israel finished in 7th place at the 2014 World Lacrosse Championsh ...

has competed in the

European Lacrosse Championships The European Lacrosse Championships began in 1995, the same year as the founding of the European Lacrosse Federation (ELF), to determine the best national lacrosse team of Europe. The field lacrosse, men's tournament was held that first year, with ...

in 2012 finishing in 8th place, and in 2016 finished 2nd. Additionally they finished 7th at the

World Lacrosse Championship The World Lacrosse Men's Championship is the international men's field lacrosse championship organized by World Lacrosse that occurs every four years. The WLC began before any international lacrosse organization had been formed. It started as ...

in 2014. Domestically, there are two men's clubs and one women's club that operate within Israel.

Martial arts

Krav Maga Krav Maga ( ; , ; ) is an Israeli Hand-to-hand combat, self-defence system. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it uses techniques derived from aikido, boxing, judo, karate and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situat ...

is taught to most citizens in the army, and practiced recreationally throughout the country. The Association of Martial Arts in Israel is chaired by

Hamad Amar Hamad Amar (; ; born 5 November 1964) is an Israeli Druze politician who currently serves as a member of Knesset for Yisrael Beiteinu since 2022, previously serving from 2009 to 2019, and again from 2019 to 2021. Amar also served as a Minister i ...

, an Israeli Druze member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. Krav Maga’s effectiveness and practical approach to self-defense have won it widespread admiration and adherence around the world.

Nili Block Nili Block (; born January 16, 1995) is a professional Muay Thai and kickboxing fighter. She is a four-time Muay Thai and two-time kickboxing world champion representing Israel. Early life Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, Nili ...

is a world champion

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

and

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

fighter.

Yulia Sachkov Yulia Sachkov (; born 28 December 1998) is an Israeli kickboxer of Russian descent. She is the 2019 World Kickboxing Champion in the under-48 kilogram (114.5 pound) weight class of K-1 style kickboxing.

is a world champion kickboxer.

Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

is one of the five sports in which Israeli athletes have won Olympic medals. It is the most successful Israeli sport at the Olympics providing five of the nine Olympic medals Israel has won. In 2013,

Yarden Gerbi Yarden Gerbi (or Jerbi, ; born 8 July 1989) is an Israeli former judoka world champion. She won an Olympic bronze medal competing for Israel at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in women's 63 kg judo. Gerbi won the gold medal at the 2013 World J ...

won a gold medal at the Judo World Championships, and in 2016 she won a bronze medal at the Olympics. Other notable Israeli judokas include: *

Yael Arad Yael Arad (; born 1 May 1967) is an Israeli judoka. She was the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. She is widely recognized as one of Israel's most successful athletes and is credited with br ...

, Israel, Olympic silver (light-middleweight) *

Daniela Krukower Daniela Yael Krukower (; born 6 January 1975 in Colegiales, Buenos Aires) is a former judoka from Argentina. Biography Krukower was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to a Jewish family, and at an early age moved with her family to Israel where Da ...

, Israel/Argentina, world champion (under 63 kg) *

Sagi Muki Sagi Aharon Muki (or Moki; ; born 17 May 1992) is an Israeli Olympic and former world champion half-middleweight judoka. Muki is the 2019 World Judo Championships – Men's 81 kg, 2019 World Champion. He also won the Judo at the 2015 European Ga ...

, Israel, World Judo Championships gold (half-middleweight) * Alice Schlesinger, Israel, World Judo Championships bronze; European junior champion (under 63 kg) *

Oren Smadja Shay-Oren Smadja (; born 20 June 1970) is an Israeli judo coach and former competitive judoka. Smadja won an Olympic bronze medal in judo at the 1992 Summer Olympics, making him the first Israeli male to win an Olympic medal, and the second Isra ...

, Israel, Olympic bronze (lightweight) *

Ehud Vaks Ehud "Udi" Vaks (; born 27 June 1979) is an Israeli judoka. Vaks won a bronze medal at the 1998 World Juniors Championships in the under 60 kg weight class. 2004 Olympics In the 2004 Summer Olympics, competing in the half lightweight ( ...

, Israel, (half-lightweight) *

Arik Ze'evi Ariel "Arik" Ze'evi (; born 16 January 1977) is an Israeli retired dan 6 black belt in judo. He had a long and successful career competing in half-heavyweight judo competitions. He won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the ...

, Israel, Olympic bronze (100 kg)

Motorsport

The Israel Motor-Sport Association was founded in 1990. It has organised rally, autocross, rallycross and drag racing competitions. Auto racing was legalized in 2011. A 1.5 km permanent racetrack was opened in

Port of Eilat The Port of Eilat () is the only Israeli port on the Red Sea, located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. This strategic location has given it outsized importance despite being remote from the country's main population centers, and access ...

, where Formula Israel competitions are held. Notable Israeli drivers include

Chanoch Nissany Chanoch Nissany (; born 29 July 1963) is an Israeli and Hungarian former racing driver and real estate developer. Nissany is the first Israeli racing driver to compete in some of the higher levels of the international racing sports, such as ...

(Formula One test-driver),

Roy Nissany Roy Nissany ( ; born 30 November 1994) is an Israeli racing driver who currently competes in the 2025 European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Team. He previously competed in the 2023 Formula 2 Championship with PHM Racing by Charouz. He is the ...

and

Alon Day Alon Day (; born November 4, 1991) is an Israeli professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 25 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports. Day is the first Israeli driver to compete in a ...

Netball

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

was introduced in Israel in 1999 by Jodi Carreira. Today there are clubs in Ra'anana, Modi'in, Jerusalem, Kfar Etzion and Tel Aviv, all of which have teams participating in the Israel National Netball League. Israel Netball has sent senior and junior teams to international events, culminating in its first international win in Ireland in June 2008. The netball tournament of the Maccabiah has been hosted by Israel Netball since 2001. Currently ranked 36, Israel is a member of the

International Netball Federation World Netball, previously known as the International Netball Federation and the International Federation of Netball Associations, is the worldwide governing body for Netball. The INF was created in 1960 and is responsible for world rankings, main ...

and of

Netball Europe Europe Netball (previously known as Netball Europe, Federation of European Netball Associations) is the regional body within the World Netball that governs netball across Europe. The European region has twelve full members and one emerging membe ...

Rugby

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

is a minor sport brought to the country by British soldiers during the Mandate era. The first game post-independence was in 1951, organized by Leo Camron. A wave of immigration from English speaking countries, and France, since 1967 renewed interest in the sport, particularly in areas with large English-speaking populations such as

Ra'anana Ra'anana () is an affluent city in the southern Sharon, Israel, Sharon Plain of the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where a ...

and

. A national league was set up in 1972, and the Israel Rugby Union (now Rugby Israel) formed in 1975. Israel's first international match was away to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 25 May 1981, and ended 9–9. The Israel Union joined the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

in 1988. Rugby union has also featured at the

since 1981. Israel has entered the

Rugby World Cup Sevens Rugby World Cup Sevens (RWCS) was the former quadrennial world championship of rugby sevens, a variant of rugby union. Organised by World Rugby, it consisted of men's and women's tournaments, and was the highest level of competition in the sport ...

. The women's rugby league in Israel consists of two teams in Tel Aviv, two in Haifa and one each in Jerusalem, Galilee and Ra’anana. An eighth club is scheduled to open in Beersheba in October 2019. Kibbutz

Yizre'el Yizre'el () is a kibbutz in north-eastern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley near Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In it had a population of . History After the Bahri dynasty, Mamluks took control of the ar ...

has been a big centre of Rugby in Israel after a group of South African

Olim ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally described ...

made a push to make the game bigger in the country.

Softball

The Israel Softball Association (fastpitch) was established in 1979 by a group of immigrants from North and South America. The Israel Softball Association is a registered Non Profit Organization which is recognized by the Sports Authorities in Israel and is a member of "Ayelet" – the Israeli Association of Non-Olympic Competitive Sports. The activities conducted by the Israel Softball Association have assisted in the social integration of immigrants countrywide, and today its members also include many native Israelis. The Association consists of 10 men's teams Divided into A Pool and B Pool, 3 women's teams,21 junior boys teams and 4 junior girls teams. The Israeli National Teams represent the country in European Championships and other International Competitions.

Water polo

Both

men A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fa ...

and

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

competed at the 2022

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. By virture of its performance at the 2022 European Championships, the women's side qualified for the 2023 World Championships, being the first time the team will compete in this tournament. Israel will host the 2024 European Championships.

Windsurfing

Israeli windsurfer

Gal Fridman Gal Fridman (or Friedman, ; born September 16, 1975) is an Israeli windsurfer and Israel's first Olympic gold medalist. Fridman won a bronze medal in the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal in the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics. He is ...

won two Olympic medals, gold and bronze, and was inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

. Israeli windsurfer Shahar Tzuberi won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In March 2012, Israeli windsurfer

Lee Korzits Lee (Lee-El) Korzits (; nicknamed Leeka; born 25 March 1984) is an Israeli windsurfer who has won four Windsurfing World Championships titles (in 2003, 2011, 2012, and 2013). She competed in the 2004 Olympics, finishing 13th, and at the 2012 Oly ...

won the women's RS-X title in the Sailing World Championships for the third time in a row. Israeli windsurfer Katy Spychakov won a silver medal in the Women's 2019 RS:X World Championships, and was an U21 winner in the Women's 2019 RS:X World Championships. At the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Tom Reuveny Tom Reuveny (; born 12 June 2000) is an Israeli Olympic champion windsurfer, who specializes in the RS:X and iQFoil classes. He won gold medals at the 2017 RS:X Youth World Championships, the 2019 RS:X World Championships Men's U21, and the 2020 ...

won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the Men's iQFoil, and

Sharon Kantor Sharon Kantor (; born 28 January 2003) is an Israeli world champion and Olympic windsurfer. Competing in the IQFoil class, she won the silver medal at the 2023 European Championships, and the gold medal at the 2024 World Championships. Represent ...

won the silver medal in the Women's IQ Foil.

Wrestling

Seven Israeli wrestlers competed at the 2010 Senior European Championship in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. Four were Greco-Roman wrestlers while the others were freestyle. Gotsha Tzitziashvily competed at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. He held the world championship title in the 84-kilogram weight class in 2003.

Underwater sports

Stand up paddle boarding

Stand up paddle boarding is becoming increasingly popular in Israel. A very accessible lifestyle sport on flat water there are many expeditions available such as the '4 Seas in 4 days'. SUP Surfing is also very popular in Israel and it can offer some world class conditions.

Maccabiah Games

The

are an international Jewish athletic event, similar to the Olympics, held every four years in Israel. The first games were held in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

Boycotts of Israel in sports

Israeli athletes and teams are barred from some competitions. In addition, in many worldwide competitions, such as

the Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competiti ...

, some

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and Muslim competitors avoid competing against Israelis. Some countries force their athletes not to compete against Israelis or in Israel. Mushir Salem Jawher, a

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

n-born

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

er, lost his

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

i citizenship after competing in the Kinneret Marathon in Israel.

Integration of Arab citizens in sports

Aside from

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, there are few

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

in elite levels of sport in Israel. Arab members of the

include Rifat (Jimmy) Turk,

Najwan Ghrayib Najwan Ghrayib (, ; born January 30, 1974) is an Israeli former footballer and former manager of his hometown club Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. Between 2009 and 2010, he was the assistant manager at Maccabi Ahi Nazareth to John Gregory, his former boss ...

, Walid Badir, Salim Toama, Abbas Suan. Another Israeli Arab, Johar Abu Lashin, born in

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

, was an IBO

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term ''welterweight'' was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

champion.

Olympic Games

Israel has won thirteen Olympic medals.

won Israel's first Olympic gold medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Sports media

Television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, radio,

newspapers A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

and news

web sites A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, ...

discuss Israeli sports. In 2010, Israel sports radio, the country's first English-language all-sports talk radio station, was established, covering Israeli and American sports. The main football leagues air on Sport 1, Sport 2 (both owned by Charlton Broadcasting Company) and

Sport 5 Sports Channel (, ''Arutz HaSport''), also known as the Sport 5 (, ''Sport Hamesh''), is one of the major Israeli television company and sports journalism outlet owned by RGE Group. Available on cable (via HOT) and satellite (via Yes); the co ...

. Other sports channels include

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

and

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. Facebook page, Follow Team Israel, shares the news of Israeli sport to the world.

References

External links

Follow Team Israel
– Sharing the stories of Israeli sport to the world
TourTheIsrael
– Israel bike racing organization
The Israel Football AssociationIsrael Basketball Association

Sports Associations in Israel
– Photos by Lev Borodulin
Sports in Israel - photos by Lev BorodulinSport: Yishuv to the PresentIsrael NetballStand up paddle boarding in Israel
{{Sport in Europe Sport in Asia

History

Major sports

Football

Basketball

Baseball

Chess

Swimming

Rowing

Tennis

Track and field

Marathons

Minor sports

American football

Boxing

Canoeing

Cricket

Curling

Equestrian

Fencing

Figure skating

Golf

Gymnastics

Handball

Ice hockey

Lacrosse

Martial arts

Motorsport

Netball

Rugby

Softball

Water polo

Windsurfing

Wrestling

Underwater sports

Stand up paddle boarding

Maccabiah Games

Boycotts of Israel in sports

Integration of Arab citizens in sports

Olympic Games

Sports media

See also

References

External links