Third of Israeli side of Arabic origin

TEN trivial pieces of information about Israeli football: The Israeli Football Association was founded in 1928 and a national team has played since 1934.

A number of Israeli internationals have graced the English game over the years, including Eyal Berkovic (West Ham, Man City et al), Avi Cohen (briefly with Liverpool in the early ‘80s) and Ronnie Rosenthal (Liverpool striker forever associated with a famous miss against Aston Villa). Tal Ben Haim currently plies his trade at Bolton Wanderers.

Football violence is prevalent at league games, with the meeting of Hapoel Tel Aviv, whose support is predominantly left wing, and rivals Maccabi the most combustible encounter. Some players of Arabic origin have suffered racist abuse, occasionally from their own fans. Games featuring the national team are relatively trouble free.

One-third of the Israeli squad are of Arabic origin. Last September, the most diversely ethnic Israeli team, Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin, played Newcastle United in the UEFA Cup.

Israel qualified for the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. They finished bottom of Group B after losing to Uruguay and drawing with Sweden and Italy.

There are 12 teams in the Israeli first division, and Maccabi Tel Aviv are the reigning champions.

There are six divisions for adults, nine for youth and one for women. About 320 clubs exist and over 950 teams in different categories. Altogether, a total of 35,500 players are registered in the Israel FA.

Despite its geographical position, Israel has played in European qualifying groups for both the World Cup and the European Championships since 1981, and became a full UEFA member in 1994. Before that they played in Asia and Oceania.

This is the fourth time Ireland and Israel have met, but the first in a competitive fixture. Israel beat us 3-0 in Tel Aviv in 1984 but we managed a 0-0 draw in the next match in 1985. In 1987 David Kelly notched a hat-trick on his international debut as we won 5-0 at Dalymount Park.

Israel’s biggest win was an 8-0 demolition of San Marino in 1999. Their biggest losses were 7-1 thumpings by Egypt (1934) and Germany (2002).