Israel men's national handball team

Israel
Information
Association	Israel Handball Association
Coach	David Pisonero
Assistant coach	Chen Pomeranz
Captain	Daniel Shkalim
Most caps	Idan Maimon (168)
Most goals	Idan Maimon (636)
Colours
Results
European Championship
Appearances	1 (First in 2002)
Best result	14th (2002)
Last updated on Unknown.

The Israel national handball team is controlled by the Israel Handball Association, and represents Israel in international matches.

Competitive record

European Championship

European Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1994	Did not qualify
1996
1998
2000
2002	Preliminary round	14	3	0	0	3	67	82
2004	Did not qualify
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024	To be determined
2026
2028
Total	1/18	–	3	0	0	3	67	82

Best achievement

The team's biggest achievement was a performance in the European Handball Championship that was held in Sweden in 2002, where it didn't manage to go through the first group stage. In the qualifying playoff games the Israel beat the Republic of Macedonia . Israel's coach in the Championship was Shlomo Hoffman, and its leading players were Idan Maimon, Vladimir Zaikman, Leonid Durashenko, Dudi Balsar and Dovi Yeshua. Ever since the historic participation at the 2002 championship, the team hasn't managed to pass the preliminary round of qualifications.

Previous campaigns

World 2007 qualifiers

In the winter of 2006 the team had failed to qualify to the 2007 world championship after finishing third at the qualifications – behind Austria and Finland.

Euro 2008 qualifiers

In the winter of 2007 Israel again failed to qualify, this time to the 2008 European Championships. Despite an impressive home win 30:29 against the very strong team of Serbia, Israel lost twice to Macedonia, and finished again finished third, behind Serbia and Republic of Macedonia and ahead of Luxembourg.

Date	Opponent	H/A	Venue	Spectators	Result	H.T	Top scorer
4 January 2007	Serbia	Away	Belgrad	2,000	Lost – 37:27	16:11	Tom Matalon, Avishay Smoler (6)
6 January 2007	Serbia	Home	Raanana	2,000	Win – 30:29	16:12	Gal Avraham (7)
10 January 2007	Macedonia	Home	Raanana	2,000	Lost – 28:30	15:19	Idan Maimon (7)
13 January 2007	Macedonia	Away	Scopia	1,500	Lost – 27:26	12:10	Gal Avraham, Avishay Smoler (5)
17 January 2007	Luxembourg	Away	Luxembourg	500	Win – 25:26	11:13	Idan Maimon
21 January 2007	Luxembourg	Home	Raanana	500	Win – 35:26	17:10	Idan Maimon (9)

World 2009 qualifiers

In the following winter Israel met Serbian again, at the 2009 World Championships Qualifying. This time it lost both games to Serbia, and finished second (out of three) after beating The Faroe Islands at both games.

Date	Opponent	H/A	Venue	Spectators	Result	H.T	Top scorer
9 January 2008	Faroe Islands	Away	Torshaven	800	Win – 21:26	8:15	Avishay Smoler (6)
12 January 2008	Faroe Islands	Home	Raanana	1,000	Win – 31:21	17:11	Gal Avraham (6)
16 January 2008	Serbia	Home	Raanana	1,600	Lost – 31:34	15:17	Avishay Smoler (10)
19 January 2008	Serbia	Away	Belgrad	2,000	Lost – 44:36	20:15	Avishay Smoler, Chen Pomeranz (10)

Euro 2010 qualifiers

In the 2010 European Championships qualifying, held in 2008 and 2009, Israel was drawn into group 5, together with the world champions, Germany, Slovenia, Belarus and Bulgaria.

Israel lost both games to Slovenia, Belarus and Germany, and only won both games against Bulgaria.

The team's captain was Idan Maimon, and its leading players were Avishay Smoler of German team TBV Lemgo, Chen Pomerantz, Tom Matalon, Gal Avraham and goalkeeper Leonid Durashenko.

Date	Opponent	H/A	Venue	Spectators	Result	H.T	Top scorer
29 October 2008	Slovenia	Home	Rishon LeZion	800	Lost – 28:36	16:21	Avishay Smoler (10)
2 November 2008	Bulgaria	Away	Blagoevgrad	400	Won – 28:34	15–20	Avishay Smoler (9)
26 November 2008	Belarus	Away	Berst	3,700	Lost – 38:31	21:14	Gal Avraham (7)
29 November 2008	Belarus	Home	Rishon LeZion	1,000	Lost – 28:31	11:19	Tom Matalon (6)
18 March 2009	Bulgaria	Home	Kiryat Motzkin	900	Won – 29:20	16:10	Chen Pomernz (6), Avishay Smoler (6)
22 March 2009	Germany	Away	Ashafenburg	4,500	Lost – 24:36	15:17	Gal Avraham (12)
17 June 2009	Slovenia	Away	Ljubljana	3,000	Lost – 27:40	17:20	Chen Pomeranz (6)
21 June 2009	Germany	Home	Rishon LeZion	1,000	Lost – 40:21	17:12	Chen Pomeranz (6)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GER	SLO	BLR	ISR	BUL
1	Germany	8	8	0	0	300	191	+109	16	Final tournament		—	38–30	38–27	36–24	42–11
2	Slovenia	8	6	0	2	293	221	+72	12			26–27	—	38–26	40–27	47–20
3	Belarus	8	4	0	4	253	233	+20	8			23–25	32–36	—	38–31	36–18
4	Israel	8	2	0	6	222	269	−47	4			21–40	28–36	28–31	—	29–20
5	Bulgaria	8	0	0	8	168	322	−154	0			29–54	23–40	19–40	28–34	—

Source:

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2021 World Men's Handball Championship – European Qualification.

Head coach: Oleg Boutenko

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club 1 GK Moshe Elimelech (1992-01-15) 15 January 1992 1.83 m 13 0 Irony Rehovot 2 P Snir Natsia (1999-08-26) 26 August 1999 2.00 m 9 5 Maccabi Rishon LeZion 3 P Daniel Shkalim (1992-09-17) 17 September 1992 1.86 m 47 54 Ramat Hasharon HC 7 RW Amit Gal (1992-08-11) 11 August 1992 1.79 m 37 39 Ramat Hasharon HC 11 LB Niv Levy (1993-06-08) 8 June 1993 1.86 m 53 110 Hapoel Ashdod 14 GK Dan Tepper (1994-03-04) 4 March 1994 1.88 m 29 0 JS Cherbourg 18 RW Tal Hershkowitz (1992-08-12) 12 August 1992 1.85 m 47 88 Hapoel Ashdod 21 CB Eden Gingihashvili (1996-08-18) 18 August 1996 1.83 m 3 4 HC Holon 22 LB Ram Turkenitz (1995-09-26) 26 September 1995 1.90 m 37 61 HK Varberg 23 CB Yonatan Dayan (2000-01-06) 6 January 2000 1.85 m 0 0 VfL Gummersbach 24 RW Amit Stelman (1993-01-09) 9 January 1993 1.79 m 59 127 Maccabi Rishon LeZion 29 P Yossi Appo (1993-10-01) 1 October 1993 1.90 m 28 26 Ramat Hasharon HC 39 LB Adir Cohen (1998-10-27) 27 October 1998 1.95 m 16 35 Pfadi Winterthur 53 LW oz Hamami (1992-05-10) 10 May 1992 1.80 m 29 50 Hapoel Rishon LeZion 66 CB Yoav Lumbroso (2000-07-15) 15 July 2000 1.72 m 1 3 ThSV Eisenach 83 LW Gil Pomeranz (1991-11-17) 17 November 1991 1.82 m 54 133 Ramat Hasharon HC

Former coaches

• Eugen Trofin (−1983)
• Israel Brener (1982–1983)
• Moshe Lagil (1983–1984)
• Shlomo Hoffman (1992–2008)
• Gilad Maor (2008–2012)
• Dragan Đukić (2012–2015)
• Per Carlén (2015–2016)
• Oleg Boutenko (2016–2022)
• Dragan Đukić (2022–2023)
• Saar Frankel (2023–2024)
• David Pisonero (2024–)

External links

• Official website
• IHF profile