JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel’s soccer team will be competing in the 2024 Olympics, after its Under-21 team successfully reached the semi-finals of the European Championship, currently being played in Georgia. Israel will face England in the semifinals, after the English team defeated Portugal 1-0 in their quarterfinal on Sunday.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
This result guaranteed that Israel will be one of just 16 teams to qualify to play in the soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
The Under-21 tournament acts as a qualifying event for the Olympics, which is played at the Under-23 level (with each team allowed three overage players from its regular team).
The top three teams in the tournament, excluding France and England, will qualify for the Olympics. France, as hosts, has an automatic spot, while England can’t compete in the Olympics, where they are represented by Great Britain, which combines athletes from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This means that England’s 1-0 win over Portugal ensured that Israel and Spain have now already qualified, with Ukraine expected to take the last spot.
This will be Israel’s third appearance at the Olympics in soccer following appearances in 1968 and 1976.
England are heavily favored to progress to the final, having already beaten Israel 2-0 when they met in the group stage and having not yet conceded a goal in the tournament. Despite this, the Israeli team has pulled off a string of surprise results in the last year, reaching the final of the Euro under-19 tournament and recently reaching the semi-final of the U-20 World Cup (Mondialito)
Israel defeated tournament co-host Georgia on Saturday evening in a dramatic penalty shootout to advance to the semifinals for the first time.
The shootout was held after neither side scored a goal in regular or extra time.
The Israeli squad won 4-3 in penalties, with goalkeeper Daniel Peretz awarded man of the match for keeping the Georgians at bay. However, Peretz will not be able to play in the semifinal after accumulating two yellow cards in recent games.
Meh
The Olympics are from idolatry. The flame is lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera by actresses playing the part of priestesses. Jews, especially, should not participate in or view it.
Hopefully there wont be games scheduled on Shabbos. Let’s not forget Munich 1972 and Yom Kippur.
What an amazing Kiddush Hashem. I have no doubt that if any of their games come out on Shabbos those players who are Halachically Jewish will sit it out. Look, Satan has a job to do and that’s to induce Jews to stray from Hashem and His Torah. Sadly, he does his job very well.