British Mandate of Palestine Official Games 1934-1948


Until the establishment of the state of Israel, on 14/5/1948, its national team played 5 international games under the name of British Mandate of Palestine. These games are recognized by IFA and FIFA as official games.
Note that also the (current) Palestinian FA recognizes these games as their 5 first internationals. However the national anthem that was played before the games was the Jewish one (later Israel national anthem) and all the players of British Mandate of Palestine in these games were Jewish, so this decision of the Palestinian FA looks little strange...

1. World Cup 1934 Qualifying (Group 12)

Egypt - British Mandate of Palestine 7-1

Date: 16/3/1934
Venue: British Army Ground, Cairo, Egypt
Attendance: 13000
Referee: Stanley Wells (England)

Egypt

Line-up: Mostafa Kamel Mansour - Ali Mohamed El Said El Kaf, Abdel Hamid Ibrahim Sharli - Hassan Ahmed El Far, Hassan Raghab, Amin Sabri - Mohamed Latif, Mostafa Kamel Taha, Abdel Rahman Fawzi, Mahmoud Mokhtar Rifai "El Tech", Gamil El Zoubeir
Goals: Mahmoud Mokhtar Rifai (11, 35, 51), Mostafa Kamel Taha (21, 79), Mohamed Latif (43, 87)
Coach: James McRea (Scotland)

British Mandate of Palestine

Line-up: Willi Berger - Avraham Reznik, Pinhas Fiedler - Zalman Friedmann "Dzampa", Gdalyahu Fuchs, Yohanan Sukenik - Amnon Harlap, Peri Kraus, Paul Kastenbaum, Haim Reich, Avraham Nudelmann
Goals: Avraham Nudelmann [6:1]
Coach: Shimon Ratner "Lumek" *

* Shimon Ratner "Lumek" didn't attend the game.


2. World Cup 1934 Qualifying (Group 12)

British Mandate of Palestine - Egypt 1-4

Date: 6/4/1934
Venue: Hapoel Ground, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Attendance: 8000
Referee: Frederick John Goodsby (England)

British Mandate of Palestine

Line-up: Willi Berger - Pinhas Fiedler, David Weinberg - Zalman Friedmann "Dzampa", Gdalyahu Fuchs, Yohanan Sukenik - Shmuel Levi, Amnon Harlap, Yaacov Zalivansky, Haim Reich, Avraham Nudelmann
Goals: Yohanan Sukenik (54)
Coach: Shimon Ratner "Lumek"

Egypt

Line-up: Aziz Fahmy - Ali Mohamed El Said El Kaf, Abdel Hamid Ibrahim Sharli - Hassan Ahmed El Far, Hassan Raghab, Mohamed Farid Bakhati - Mohamed Latif, Mostafa Kamel Taha, Abdel Rahman Fawzi, Mahmoud Mokhtar Rifai "El Tech", Mahmoud Hani Labib
Goals: Mohamed Latif (2), Mahmoud Mokhtar Rifai (7, 22), Abdel Rahman Fawzi (35)
Coach: James McRea (Scotland)

Note: Mohamed Latif left the field at 80' due to injury and Egypt continued to play with 10 men.


3. World Cup 1938 Qualifying (Group 6 - First Round)

British Mandate of Palestine - Greece 1-3

Date: 22/1/1938
Venue: Maccabi Ground, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Attendance: 8000
Referee: Yussef Mohammed (Egypt)

British Mandate of Palestine

Line-up: Julius Klein - Avraham Beit-Halevi, Avner Protopopov - Yosef Libermann, Gdalyahu Fuchs, Menahem Mirmovich (Yohanan Sukenik, 46) - Avraham Nudelmann, Gaul Machlis, Peri Neufeld, Shuka Brashadski, Mila Ginzburg
Goals: Peri Neufeld (21)
Coach: Egon Pollak

Greece

Line-up: Spiridon Sklavounos - Georgios Gasparis, Georgios Papadopoulos - Anastasios Kritikos, Antonios Kasimatis (Spiridon Kontoulis, 46), Konstantinos Gikas - Antonios Migiakis, Dimitrios Baldasis, Kleanthis Vikelides, Kleanthis Maropoulos, Theologos Simeonidis
Goals: Kleanthis Vikelides (3, 10), Antonios Migiakis (51)
Coach: Konstantinos Negrepontis


4. World Cup 1938 Qualifying (Group 6 - First Round)

Greece - British Mandate of Palestine 1-0

Date: 20/2/1938
Venue: Panathinaikos Stadium, Athens, Greece
Attendance: 12000
Referee: Mika Popović (Yugoslavia)

Greece

Line-up: Spiridon Sklavounos (Nikolaos Sotiriadis, 15) - Georgios Gasparis, Georgios Papadopoulos - Anastasios Kritikos, Spiridon Kontoulis, Konstantinos Gikas - Antonios Migiakis, Spiridon Depountis, Kleanthis Vikelides, Kleanthis Maropoulos, Vasilios Manetas-Lappas
Goals: Kleanthis Vikelides (89)
Coach: Konstantinos Negrepontis

British Mandate of Palestine

Line-up: Israel Elsner - Avraham Reznik, Avraham Beit-Halevi - Yosef Libermann, Gdalyahu Fuchs, Menahem Mirmovich - Yaacov "Yena" Stern, Moshe "Jerry" Beit-Halevi, Peri Neufeld, Gaul Machlis, Natan Pantz
Goals: -
Coach: Egon Pollak*

* Egon Pollak didn't attend the game and was replaced by Itzhak Halutz.


5. Friendly

British Mandate of Palestine - Lebanon 5-1

Date: 27/4/1940
Venue: Maccabia Stadium, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Attendance: 9000
Referee: Blackwell (England)

British Mandate of Palestine

Line-up: Binyamin Mizrahi - Yaacov Breir, Shalom Shalomzon - Zalman Friedmann "Dzampa", Zvi Fuchs (Lonia Dvorin, 46), Haim Reich - Herbert Meitner, Zvi Erlich "Doctor", Werner Kaspi, Avraham Schneiderovitz, Gaul Machlis
Goals: Herbert Meitner (2), Avraham Schneiderovitz (11 pen), Gaul Machlis (32), Werner Kaspi (40, 60)
Coach: Arthur Baar

Lebanon

Line-up: Nazam Sayad - Yeguiché, Sacre - Guiragos, Barbir, Falah - Jaroudi, Nercesse, Kamil, Oxen, Jerard
Goals: Kamil (50)
Coach: N/A

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Jean-Michel Cazal and Yaniv Bleicher for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Authors: Jean-Michel Cazal (Jean-Michel.Cazal@wanadoo.fr) and Yaniv Bleicher (yanivbl@hotmail.com)
Last updated: 14 Feb 2011

(C) Copyright Jean-Michel Cazal, Yaniv Bleicher and RSSSF 2001/2011
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All rights reserved.