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Fine fruit: The story of Perry Neufeld, the first foreigner in Israeli football - Walla! sport

2021-07-17T05:08:07.544Z


He arrived by mistake and stayed thanks to a successful meal and matchmaking, gave Maccabi Tel Aviv the first championship in its history and pushed even from the list of the club's greats even Shia Glazer at his peak


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Fine fruit: The story of Perry Neufeld, the first foreigner in Israeli football

He arrived by mistake and stayed thanks to a successful meal and matchmaking, gave Maccabi Tel Aviv the first championship in its history and pushed even from the list of the club's greats even Shia Glazer at his peak.

While teams are begging for reinforcements from abroad, it's time to remember Perry Neufeld, the first foreigner in the history of Israeli football

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  • Maccabi Tel Aviv in football

Asher Goldberg

Saturday, July 17, 2021, 8 p.m.

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This summer, as every year, the spotlight in the transfer window is on the foreign players. Every new name that joins Israeli football arouses interest and makes headlines, especially when it comes to Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Beer Sheva, Betar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv. Mainly as a result of the joining of many dozens of Jewish footballers from all over Europe, who left their (mostly Jewish) teams and immigrated from the Diaspora to Eretz Israel. Tel Aviv and Hapoel Haifa Under the British Mandate in Palestine, there were English football players who served in Palestine, while others were guests for short periods of time.



The story of Perry Neufeld, the first foreign player in Eretz Israel football, in Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Eretz Israel national team, is the most beautiful and fascinating.

Franz (Perry) Neufeld was born in 1913 in Hungary and began his career in the large Opstz group.

Neufeld was invited to Hungary's youth team, with which he played a long series of games across Europe.

In 1932, an Austrian coach came to the capital Budapest to buy footballers for teams from the Egyptian league.

Neufeld caught his eye and was signed to a 3-year contract at Alexandria.

Aside from a handsome cash grant, his monthly salary was 8 Egyptian pounds a month, victory grants and a five-room apartment near the city’s famous promenade.

Neufeld became in the position of central striker one of the most famous players in Egypt.

He was offered Egyptian citizenship so he could play for the team, but he turned down the offer.

In 1934, during the World Cup qualifiers in Italy, the Palestine team was drawn for a double encounter against the Egyptian team.

The first match is scheduled to take place in Cairo.

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Rejected an offer to obtain Egyptian citizenship.

Perry Neufeld (Photo: Yachz)

The Palestine team was accommodated in the luxurious Hotel de France. Neufeld arrived in Cairo on the eve of the game to watch it with his Egyptian team. The Eretz Israel team was scheduled for a friendly match against Alexandria three days after the game against Egypt. Neufeld arrived for the festive evening at the hotel organized by the Egyptians and befriended the captain of the Israeli team, Gaza Fox from Hapoel Haifa, and the legendary goalkeeper Willy Berger, both from Hungary. The common language helped to create an early friendship between them. The team was defeated 7: 1 and left Cairo for a game in Alexandria, which was attended by a little less than ten thousand spectators, most of them Jews living in the city. It is considered a relatively small audience, with many not coming due to the previous defeat. The match between Alexandria and the Eretz Israel team ended in a 0-0 draw, thanks to a huge game between Berger and Fox, which prevented Neufeld from scoring. Berger gave Neufeld his address in Tel Aviv and recommended that he visit the city. A year later Neufeld terminated his contract in Alexandria.



Neufeld did not continue in Egypt and signed a new contract with the Lebanese Renaissance team from Beirut.

He sailed from Alexandria to Lebanon, but due to a technical malfunction on the ship it docked for three days in the port of Jaffa.

When he got off the ship in Jaffa, he was first taken to Hapoel Tel Aviv, where he was told he looked too thin and thin to invest so much money in him.

Then, in a rage, he said: "Who is Hapoel Tel Aviv's biggest rival?", And so a meeting was arranged for him in a cafe with Maccabi Tel Aviv. At the same time, Berger's wife introduced him to a beautiful Tel Aviv girl named Fritzi. Neufeld gave up returning to sailing to Lebanon and the contract there.

Neufeld pushed him from a prestigious list.

Shia Glazer (Photo: Bernie Ardov)

In the 1936 season, Maccabi Tel Aviv won the first championship in its history, with its offensive part including Gaul Machlis, Fritz Donnenfeld, Perry Neufeld, Jerry Beit Halevi and Natan Panz. Neufeld set up his family here and on the pitch scored in bundles and there was a horror defense. He was a crowd favorite and one of the great athletes in football of the period. Due to events against the Arabs and the unrest on the roads, only 6 teams participated in the league of 1936 - Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hakoach Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Haifa, Maccabi Petah Tikva and Ness Ziona. The game that decided the fate of the championship was the derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv on December 11 at the Hapoel Tel Aviv pitch. Hapoel Tel Aviv led in the opening with a 0: 2 advantage from goals by Amnon Harlap and Yohanan Sukenik, Maccabi shrank in the break to a break from a goal by Jerry Beit Halevi.



Back on the field Assaf Neufeld picked up his teammates and struck a speech. Donnenfeld, the Vienna powerhouse with the strongest kick in football at the time, handed Neufeld a ball on the midline. The skinny Neufeld opened with a solo dribble, went past the entire defense and from an extension corner kicked a wonderful ball to goalkeeper Berger's top net - 2: 2. After angrily kicking the beam, Berger applauded the operation of his friend and opponent. In the 71st minute, the turnaround took place, with a free kick by Donnenfeld - 2: 3. Maccabi Tel Aviv went up to a balance of 16 points, in the rematch the power of Tel Aviv ended in a 1: 1 draw against Hapoel Haifa and missed the opportunity to equalize the balance, thus celebrating Maccabi the first championship in its history.



In 1938, the Eretz Israel team was drawn for the World Cup qualifiers in France against the Greek team.

In the first game in Tel Aviv, in front of ten thousand spectators, Eretz Israel lost to the Greeks 1: 3, with Neufeld capturing the goal of honor.

Also in the rematch in Athens, the Israeli team lost 1: 0 from a goal in the 90th minute.

In 1939, Maccabi Tel Aviv sailed on the longest game journey in the history of football to date - to Australia via Egypt, Eden, India and Ceylon.

Neufeld was on a journey at his peak and scored 27 goals in Australia alone.

He was bombarded with offers to sign at Sydney clubs, and Melbourne which offered him high professional contracts, but politely declined, explaining that he could not leave his family alone in Tel Aviv.

Those who did accept offers to stay and sign for clubs in Australia were coach Egon Polak, Avraham Beit Halevi and a number of other players.

(Photo: Maariv)

Neufeld's greatness can be learned from an event in 1956, when Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrated the 50th anniversary of the club's founding in 1906 in Neve Tzedek.

A panel of senior journalists and coaches in Israeli football selected the club's 11 greatest players during the jubilee.

Neufeld is selected as the central striker as he pushes Shia Glazer off the list, who was then at the height of his ability and fame.

In the past, when I asked the late Glazer about Neufeld, he replied: "He was the greatest of them all, even in my dreams it was impossible to do what he did as a striker on the field." The brakeman Noah Reznik testified: Perry Neufeld with the ball, there are no such players today, he was ahead of his time. "



In the 1950s, Neufeld worked at the gas station on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. Neufeld died in 1982 at the age of 68.

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Source: walla

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