Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Zenger
Zenger
World
David Wiseman

Israel Emerging As A World Contender In Ball Sports

Belgium's Kyara Linskens and Israel's Yarden Garzon fight for the ball during a basketball game between Israel and Belgian national women's team 'the Belgian Cats' in Tel Aviv, Israel on Thursday 15 June 2023, the first game in the group phase of of the FIBA Women EuroBasket 2023 European Championships in Israel and Slovenia. The relationship between Israel and sport has always been nuanced. It’s one of not many countries in the world where basketball and football (soccer) are the two most popular sports.  PHOTO BY VIRGINIE LEFOUR / GETTY IMAGES

The relationship between Israel and sport has always been nuanced. It’s one of not many countries in the world where basketball and football (soccer) are the two most popular sports. It’s actually rarer than you might think, especially because these are the two most popular sports in the world by far.

The media here is focused on these two ball sports, leaving others such as gymnastics, judo, swimming, athletics, baseball, cricket, surfing, sailing, water polo, volleyball, handball and the like to be neglected.

If an athlete competes in the woods and there is no one around to report on it, does it make a sound?

The irony until recently is that on a global stage, Israel has excelled in sports such as judo, sailing and gymnastics. These three sports have combined for 11 of the 13 Olympic medals Israel has won, the other two in canoeing and taekwondo.

So it’s not that Israel doesn’t do well in sports but it does well in what would be considered non-traditional sports.

The Israeli baseball team started from scratch and made it all the way to sixth spot of the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

The team followed this up with something even more incredible — being just one of five teams in the world to qualify for the 2020 Olympics, joining Japan in the six-team tournament. 

This was Israel’s first Olympic participation in a ball team sport since the 1976 men’s football team. 

It’s harder for the basketball and soccer teams to excel on the big stage as Israel has to qualify for any global tournament via Europe where the competition is basically the world’s best. If Israel were still qualifying in Asia like it originally was, it wouldn’t be as difficult, but this isn’t about politics.

This changed recently with the 2023 FIFA U20 World Cup. Not only did Israel advance from an incredibly challenging group containing Senegal, Colombia and Japan, but scored an upset victory over Brazil in the quarterfinals. This was an historic achievement, and the team ended the tournament in third place.

Israel truly is a melting pot with people from every corner of the world. From Australia to Austria, from South Africa to South Korea and from Mexico to New Mexico, you find them all. And they bring with them a love of the sports they are passionate about.

Then leagues spring up with people playing ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, archery, and the like.

It’s not that Israel doesn’t do well in sports but it does well in what would be considered non-traditional sports.

But there are a number of reasons why all of these sports find it difficult to get in the fast lane of Israeli society.

Players of Israel pose with the bronze medal after the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023 Final match between Italy and Uruguay at Estadio La Plata on June 11, 2023 in La Plata, Argentina. It’s harder for the basketball and soccer teams to excel on the big stage as Israel has to qualify for any global tournament via Europe where the competition is basically the world’s best, PHOTO BY MARCELO ENDELLI/GETTY IMAGES  

They’re niche. The money in sport comes from sponsorship and TV rights and if there aren’t any eyeballs, there won’t be any shekels.

Sports lose their athletes in the peak of their career to go into the army. With the government designating so much of the budget to defense, what is left over goes to schools, hospitals, transport and the like.

There isn’t that much for sports, especially when soccer and basketball takes the lion’s share.

This trickles down into a lack of resources and infrastructure. Swimmers and water polo players need world-class swimming pools, tennis players need world-class tennis courts. You don’t see many of these around Israel.

But things are changing.

Israeli athletes have slowly changed perceptions by their outstanding achievements. Israeli kids realize that it’s not a binary choice between soccer and basketball and girls can participate in more organized sports than ever before.

What has also helped is Israel hosting world-class events — international tournaments in judo, swimming, water polo, gymnastics, lacrosse, tennis, athletics and volleyball have happened here recently or will happen soon, which is huge.

The life of an athlete can be difficult and solitary. You are plugging away and it can feel like the sacrifices are for nothing. People your age are getting on with their lives while you are pursuing what appears to be a pipe dream.

But then one day it changes — you’re an overnight success and it was all worth it. Kids out there are inspired by your deeds and the next generation is in motion.

If you will it, it’s no dream. That’s the mantra this country was built on and we have to do all we can to help our athletes keep their dreams alive.

Produced in association with ISRAEL21c

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.