The Friends of the Israel Football League was founded in 2015 in order to help support and develop the sport of football in Israel.
We strive to make a difference through three main avenues:
- Education. Our coaching mission enables experienced football coaches to connect to a specific team and act as an advisor and mentor coach to an Israeli team. Our coaches also return to the U.S. as ambassadors for Israeli football.
- Equipment. Football equipment is not available commercially in Israel and we help facilitate new and used equipment donations, and ship them to Israel.
- Economics. Running football leagues for thousands of kids, teenagers and adults is a worthy but costly endeavor. We aim to support the ongoing operations and constant growth of the sport that we love in the land that we love.
About the Israel Football League (‘IFL’)
The ten-year old IFL has 8 adult teams, 11 high school teams and 5 pee-wee teams all over Israel (almost 1,000 athletes!). Over 70% of our players are native born Israelis, and 10% are not Jewish, rather Christian, Muslim or Druze. Football is a great sport, and it’s characteristics enable it to serve as an educational tool unlike any other. Young athletes learn football’s timeless qualities of leadership, responsibility, perseverance, sacrifice, and teamwork. In football there is a place for every child or adult, whether fat or skinny, short or tall. The game can teach you how to win and, maybe more important, how to lose.
Football is a metaphor for life, and our goal at the Friends of the IFL is to grow and foster the growth of this great sport in Israel.
Long Term Goals
1. Football Fields. The IFL currently plays on rented soccer fields and we are planning for 8 full-size high-school style football fields all over Israel. With matching funds from the Israeli government, each field will cost us approximately $2 million.
2. Twenty Full Clubs. We are building our teams in the European ‘Club’ style. As we spread across the nation, every adult team will have a high school team and pee-wee team under its auspices, for a grand total of 60 teams. The cost of player equipment alone for the entire program is estimated at over $1.5 million.
3. Endowment of $30 million. By building a strong endowment, we can guarantee the financial stability of the league in the long run. Yes, it’s a big dream, but as Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, said: ‘’If you will it, it is no dream’’.