Israel’s football team to compete at Olympics for first time since 1976

Israel’s national football team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in nearly 50 years by making a surprising run at a major under-21 European tournament.

Israel lost to England on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the UEFA European U-21 Championship, a biennial contest among the continent’s best under-21 teams. But three days earlier, after a win in the playoff round against Georgia, Israel earned a place at the 2024 Paris Olympics alongside just 15 other countries.

Fooball at the Olympics is an under-23 tournament, although each team is allowed three roster spots for players older than 23. Israel has competed in UEFA, Europe’s umbrella soccer association, since the 1990s because they were previously booted from the Asian Football Confederation.

“This tournament brought historic achievements to Israeli soccer. We reached the quarterfinal, then the semifinal, and we qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 47 years,” Moshe Shino Zuares, the chairman of the Israel Football Association, told Israel’s Kan broadcaster after the loss to England. “I am proud of each and every one of our players, our professional staff and the whole delegation for smashing every possible ceiling and restoring confidence in Israeli soccer.”