1963–64 in Israeli football

Football in Israel

Season	1963–64
Men's football
Liga Leumit	Hapoel Ramat Gan
Liga Alef	Maccabi Netanya Beitar Tel Aviv
State Cup	Maccabi Tel Aviv

The 1963–64 season was the 16th season of competitive football in Israel and the 38th season under the Israeli Football Association, established in 1928, during the British Mandate.

Review and Events

• Israel hosted its first international tournament, the 1964 AFC Asian Cup. The national team won the tournament, its first major trophy.
• The U-19 national team participated for the first time in the AFC U-19 Championship, sharing the cup with Burma after 0–0 in the final.
• Prior to the U-19 national team's departure to the AFC Youth Championship, several players were questioned by the Military Police on suspicions of falsifying their I.D. cards, in an attempt of making three of the team's squad, Ze'ev Seltzer, Moshe Leon and Danny Borsok, eligible for the competition, as the three were born before the cut-off date of 1 April 1944.^[1] The three were released and departed with the team to Saigon, where they were declared ineligible to the competition and didn't take part in it,^[2] while the investigation was handed over the civil police. Upon the team's return from the championship, the three were arrested by the police, along with Shmuel Ben-Dror, head of the Israeli delegation to the championship.^[3] In July 1964, Seltzer, Borsok and Ben-Dror, along with another IFA executive, Uri Vilenski, were charged with document falsification and knowingly transferring falsified documents.^[4] The trial was concluded in February 1965, and Seltzer, Borsok and Vilenski were found guilty, while Ben-Dror was cleared of all charges.^[5]
• At the end of the season, the IFA decided to set the number of team in each division to 16 (except for Liga Gimel, in which the number of club in each division was set by the number of clubs registering for the season). This meant that Liga Leumit was expanded from 15 clubs to 16 and both Liga Alef division were expanded from 14 clubs to 16 clubs.

Domestic leagues

Promotion and relegation

The following promotions and relegations took place at the end of the season:

Promoted to Liga Leumit Maccabi Netanya Beitar Tel Aviv

Relegated from Liga Leumit Hapoel Lod

Promoted to Liga Alef Hapoel Safed Beitar Haifa Hapoel Bnei Nazareth Hapoel Netanya Hapoel Ra'anana Beitar Lod Beitar Harari Tel Aviv Hapoel Ashkelon Maccabi Holon

Relegated from Liga Alef Hapoel Nahariya Hapoel Givat Haim Maccabi Shmuel Tel Aviv Hapoel Rishon LeZion

Promoted to Liga Bet Hapoel Hulata Hapoel Beit Eliezer Beitar Beit Lid Hapoel Shefayim Beitar Petah Tikva Beitar Ramat Gan Beitar Rehovot ASA Jerusalem Hapoel Kiryat Malakhi Hapoel Be'eri Hapoel Yagur Beitar Kiryat Tiv'on Hapoel Ashdod

Relegated from Liga Bet Beitar Acre Beitar Safed Beitar Binyamina Beitar Mahane Yehuda Beitar Holon Hapoel HaTzafon Jerusalem Maccabi Ashkelon Maccabi Ramla

Domestic cups

Israel State Cup

The 1963–64 Israel State Cup, which stated on 21 September 1963, was delayed by a series of appeals on third round results which were settled only by June 1963, forcing the competition to be carried over to the next season.

National Teams

National team

1964 Summer Olympics qualification

The national team competed in the Asian zone of the 1964 Summer Olympics qualification and was drawn to play South Vietnam in the first round. After winning 1–0 in Saigon,^[6] Israel suffered a shock 0–2 defeat in Ramat Gan and was eliminated from qualification.^[7]

1964 AFC Asian Cup

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Israel (H)	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	6	Champions
2	India	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	4	Runners-up
3	South Korea	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	2	Third place
4	Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0	Fourth place

Source: RSSSF
(H) Hosts

1963–64 matches

South Vietnam  v  Israel

29 December 1963 Ol. Q.	South Vietnam	0–1	Israel	Saigon
			Young 20'	Stadium: Republic Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: de Silva

Israel  v  South Vietnam

17 March 1964 Ol. Q.	Israel	0–2	South Vietnam	Ramat Gan
			Nguyễn Văn Quang 27' Nguyễn Văn Ngôn 41'	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Gürüz

Israel  v England U-23 

17 May 1964 Unofficial	Israel	0–4	England U-23	Ramat Gan
		Report^[permanent dead link] (in Hebrew)	Hinton 3', 46' Tambling 10' Hurst 12'	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Monastiriotis

Israel  v  Hong Kong

26 May 1964 Asian Cup	Israel	1–0	Hong Kong	Ramat Gan
	Spiegler 76'			Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Nice

Israel  v  India

29 May 1964 Asian Cup	Israel	2–0	India	Tel Aviv
	Spiegler 29' (pen.)Aharoni 76'			Stadium: Bloomfield Stadium Attendance: 20,000 Referee: Li Pak Tung

Israel  v  South Korea

3 June 1964 Asian Cup	Israel	2–1	South Korea	Ramat Gan
	Leon 20'Tish 38'		Lee Soon-Myung 79'	Stadium: Ramat Gan Stadium Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Nassiri

National U-19 team

1964 AFC Youth Championship

First round

Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Israel	3	3	0	0	10	0	+10	6
South Korea	3	2	0	1	3	4	−1	4
Japan	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	1
Thailand	3	0	1	2	1	7	−6	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Final

Israel  v  Burma

28 April 1964 U19 Asian Cup	Israel	0–0	Burma	Saigon
				Stadium: Republic Stadium Attendance: 40,000
Note: Cup shared

References

1. Leon, D. Borsok and Seltzer Were Arrested by the Military Police on Suspicions of I.D. Falsification^{[permanent dead link]} Aharon Lahav, Davar, 13 April 1964, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
2. The "Scandal Players" Were Not Allowed to Play in Saigon^{[permanent dead link]} Dov Atzmon, Davar, 19 April 1964, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
3. Member of the FA Youth Committee Was Arrested Regarding the Falsifications^{[permanent dead link]} Herut, 6 May 1964, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
4. An Indictment Was Filed in the Footballers' "Age Falsification" Affair^{[permanent dead link]} Herut, 6 July 1964, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
5. Ben-Dror Cleared in the "Football Trial"; Borsok, Seltzer and Vilenski Were Found Guilty^{[permanent dead link]} Yigal Lev, Ma'ariv, 1 February 1965, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
6. A Pale Match Gave an Unconvincing Victory of Vietnam^{[permanent dead link]} Yehuda Gabai, Ma'ariv, 30 December 1963, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
7. The Over Confidence Cost Dearly^{[permanent dead link]} Yesha'ayahu Porat, Ma'ariv, 18 March 1964, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)