Israel Football Association

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Founded	1928
FIFA affiliation	1929
UEFA affiliation	1994
President Avi Luzon
Coach Dror Kashtan (Men's) Alon Schraier (Women's)

The Israel Football Association (Hebrew: ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל‎, HaHitakhdut leKaduregel beYisrael), also known as the IFA, is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes the football leagues, Israeli Premier League, Israeli football Cup and the Israeli national football team. It is based in Ramat-Gan. The IFA was founded as Football Association of Eretz Israel/Palestine (under British mandate) in 1928.

[edit] History

The Eretz Israel/Palestine Football Association was founded in August 1928 and applied for membership in the FIFA. It was accepted to the FIFA on June 6, 1929 as the Eretz Israel/Palestine Football Association. The first Eretz Israel/Palestine football league was set up in 1932. In 1956 the Israel Football Association was admitted to the AFC. In the early 1970s the Israel Football Association was expelled from the AFC due to political pressure from Arab and Muslim states that refused to play against Israel. For 20 years the Israel Football Association was not affiliated with any confederation and was playing provisionally in the OFC and in the UEFA until in 1991 it was admitted to the UEFA as a full member. Since then Israeli clubs have been playing in the various UEFA club competitions and the Israeli national team has been trying to qualify for the European Football Championship and for the FIFA World Cup as part of Europe.