Moshe Litvak () was an Israeli footballer and manager. He is best known for his years at Maccabi Rehovot where he started his managerial career. He also played 6 official matches for the

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

between 1949 and 1954.

Playing career

Litvak was born in

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

and started playing football with Maccabi Rehovot as a youth. After appearing with Fire Brigade Rehovot in

Liga Bet Liga Bet () is the fourth tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into four regional divisions. History League football started in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. However, the financial ...

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

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

, mostly playing as defender. Litvak played in the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

and

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

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 ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

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

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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

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

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

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Coaching career

Litvak started coaching in 1955, serving as a player-manager Maccabi Rehovot. The club dropped to

Liga Alef Liga Alef () is the third tier of the Israeli football league system. It is divided into two regional divisions, north and south. History League football began in Israel in 1949–50, a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Howe ...

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

IFA IFA or Ifa may refer to: Organisations Economics * Independent financial adviser, a type of financial services professional in the UK * Index Fund Advisors * Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, representing actuaries in the UK * Institute of Act ...

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

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

Liga Leumit The Israeli Liga Leumit (, HaLiga HaLeumit, ) is the second division of the professional Israeli association football (soccer) league system. This second-tier league is placed directly below the Israeli Premier League. Structure There are 16 ...

and

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

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

in 1970–71. Litvak's last post as head coach was in Maccabi Petah Tikva, from which he resigned in mid-season.

Personal life

Litvak worked in

Bank Leumi Bank Leumi (, lit. ''National Bank''; ) is an Israeli bank. It was founded on February 27, 1902, in Jaffa as the ''Anglo Palestine Company'' as subsidiary of the Jewish Colonial Trust () Limited formed before in London by members of the Zionism, ...

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

Honours

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litvak, Moshe 1926 births 2012 deaths Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli men's footballers Maccabi Rehovot F.C. players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Maccabi Rehovot F.C. managers Hapoel Rehovot F.C. managers Shimshon Tel Aviv F.C. managers Hakoah Tel Aviv F.C. managers Hakoah Amidar Ramat Gan F.C. managers Hapoel Ramla F.C. managers Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim F.C. managers Hapoel Kiryat Ono F.C. managers Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. managers Hapoel Jerusalem F.C. managers Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. managers Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards Israeli football managers Footballers from Rehovot 20th-century Israeli sportsmen