Full name Mordechai Spiegler Years Team Name Mordechai Spiegler | Playing position Role Footballer Position Forward | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1944-08-19) 19 August 1944 (age 71) | ||
Place of birth Sochi, Soviet Union | ||
Mordechai "Motaleh" Spiegler (Hebrew: מרדכי שפיגלר, born in Sochi, Soviet Union, 19 August 1944) is a former Israeli footballer and manager. He remains Israel's record goalscorer, with 33 goals in 83 caps.
Contents
Domestic career
As a striker, he played for Maccabi Netanya along with Paris Saint Germain in France and alongside Pelé for New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League in the 1970s.
He was chosen as the Israeli Player of the Year a record four times, in 1967/68, 1968/69, 1969/70, and in 1970/71.
International career
Spiegler made his international debut for Israel on 2 January 1964 against Hong Kong. He took part in the Israeli win in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, and scored 2 goals at the tournament, which made him a joint top scorer of the tournament.
His major achievement was helping Israel qualify for the Football World Cup 1970 in Mexico. He scored Israel's lone goal in World Cup history in a 1–1 draw against Sweden.
His 32 goals for the national team (according to IFA count, FIFA counts only 25 of them) is the Israeli record. Spiegler scored 25 goals in 62 'official' internationals for the Israeli national side, he also played in 21 other 'unofficial' matches (mostly Olympic Games qualifiers) scoring seven more goals.
Spiegler captained the Israeli Olympic team at Mexico City 1968 which reached the quarter-finals, losing to Bulgaria by a draw after the match ended 1–1.
Post-playing career
He was nominated as the best Israeli player of the prior 50 years by the Israel Football Association in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. Spiegler is a member of the Education and Publicity Committee of the IFA.
In 2007, he won a lifetime contributions special award for the Israeli national team in the 1970 world cup, determined by Yedioth Ahronoth and the Israeli football player association.