The Israel Under-17 National Team took the gold medal at the first International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Flag Football European Youth Championships just completed on Sunday in Grosseto, Italy.
Israel defeated Serbia 34-14 in the gold-medal game after topping host Italy in a tight semifinal.
"The quest for a gold medal in IFAF Flag Football has been ongoing for 15 years and Team Israel finally reached the top of the podium,” said American Football in Israel President Steve Leibowitz. "In recent years, with the help of the Kraft Family and Ayelet non-Olympic Sports Federation, we invested heavily in our youth programs. We see that it has paid off."
The U17 girls finished just outside the medal round and beat France to earn fifth place. The U15 coed team was also out of the final four and defeated Great Britain, before losing in its final game against Germany to also finish fifth.
Israeli teams forfeit games on Shabbat
Despite appeals from Israel, the IFAF scheduled the Israeli teams to play one game on Shabbat.
Of course, all of the players on Israel's youth teams are minors, with the majority of the participants coming from observant families, who insisted that they would not play Shabbat games. As a result, all three Israeli teams forfeited Saturday games and lost 35-0.
The Boys U17 were good enough to run up scores in earlier games, allowing them to reach the final four. Had the Girls U17 played on Saturday, they could have advanced to the semifinals with a win.
The gold-medal winning team was coached by senior national team players Gideon Reiz and Dani Eastman.
Quarterback Mati Bedenarsh led the offense, scoring nearly at will by finding receivers Joshua Levental, Nate Fried, Ruslan Duchkov and Yalli Harush.
Defensive standouts were Eitan Kirshner and Ofek Lazmi.
"It's an honor and privilege to be a part of this," exclaimed Reiz after coaching the team to the historic gold. "We have an amazing group of guys, an amazing future, and it's only going to get better."
The shining results this past weekend come on the heels of last month's bronze medal for Team Israel’s senior men’s team at the Flag Football European Championship in Limerick, Ireland.
The lead sponsor of Israeli national teams is New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Other sponsors include Minnesota Vikings owner Mark Wilf, Ira and Yael Kleinman and Alex and Mike Swieca.
"With Flag Football well positioned for inclusion in the 2028 LA Olympics, we are already working to get our teams there," added Leibowitz. "This was a sign that we are moving in the right direction.
"The fact that the boys won gold despite forfeiting the Shabbat game was only because they were far stronger than other teams. Our girls were strong enough to reach the final four but the forfeit knocked them out. We will continue to push for no Shabbat games for Team Israel. We are proud that unlike most other sports federations in Israel, our policy is to do all within our power to include religious players."