Football at the 1953 Maccabiah Games

Football at the 1953 Maccabiah Games was held in several stadiums in Israel starting on 28 September.

Football at the 1953 Maccabiah Games
Tournament details
Host countryIsrael
Dates21 – 30 September
Teams7
Venue(s)5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Israel
Runners-up South Africa
Third place Great Britain
Fourth place France
Tournament statistics
Matches played17
Goals scored83 (4.88 per match)

The competition was open for men's teams only. Teams from 7 countries participated. The tournament was won by the defending champions, Israel.[1]

As part of the closing ceremony, the host and winner, Israel, played an exhibition match against a selected team from the other competing nations. The match, that was played over two halves of 20 minutes, ended goalless.[2]

Format

edit

The seven teams were divided into two group, each team playing the others once. The top two qualified for the medals group, while the rest played for the 5th-7th places.

Preliminary round

edit

Group A

edit
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
  Israel 3 3 0 0 10 1 6
  Great Britain 3 2 0 1 6 3 4
   Switzerland 3 1 0 2 5 4 2
  Finland 3 0 0 3 1 14 0
21 September 1953
Israel   3–1   Great Britain Maccabi Ground, Rehovot
Switzerland   5–1   Finland Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
22 September 1953
Israel   5–0   Finland Municipal Stadium, Haifa
Great Britain   1–0    Switzerland Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
23 September 1953
Israel   2–0    Switzerland Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
Great Britain   4–0   Finland Hapoel Ground, Kfar Saba

Group B

edit
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
  South Africa 2 2 0 0 9 4 4
  France 2 1 0 1 5 7 2
  United States 2 0 0 2 3 6 0
21 September 1953
South Africa   6–2   France Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
22 September 1953
France   3–1   United States YMCA Stadium, Jerusalem
23 September 1953
South Africa   3–2   United States Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv

Final round

edit

5th-7th places group

edit
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
  United States 2 1 1 0 4 1 3
   Switzerland 2 1 1 0 5 3 3
  Finland 2 0 0 2 2 7 0
27 September 1953
Switzerland   4–2   Finland Maccabi Ground, Rehovot
28 September 1953
Switzerland   1–1   United States YMCA Stadium, Jerusalem
29 September 1953
United States   w/o   Finland

Medals group

edit
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts
  Israel 3 3 0 0 17 1 6
  South Africa 3 2 0 1 5 6 4
  Great Britain 3 1 0 2 8 12 2
  France 3 0 0 3 3 14 0
25 September 1953
Israel   5–0   France Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
South Africa   2–1 Great Britain   Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
27 September 1953
Israel   4–0   South Africa Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
Great Britain   6–2   France Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
28 September 1953
Israel   8–1   Great Britain Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv
South Africa   3–1   France Basa Stadium, Tel Aviv

References

edit
  1. ^ Israel – South Africa 4:0 in Football Herut, 28 September 1953, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)
  2. ^ 60 Thousand Spectators at the Fourth Maccabiah Closing Ceremony[permanent dead link] Davar, 30 September 1953, Historical Jewish Press (in Hebrew)