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Soccer fever kicks off! [UPDATED]

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You may not know it, but the world’s biggest sporting tournament kicks off today. The quadrennial World Cup, the height of soccer fever, will play out in Brazil over the next month.

Because there always has to be a Jewish connection to just about anything, Rocky Mountain Jew likes to put together a little religio-centric biennial soccer fever guide. (Every two years, you ask? The European Championship takes place during even years between World Cups.) Our soccer fever posting usually focuses on the Jewish players at the tournament, but that list is so thin this year, that it’s nearly transparent. Four names was all we could come up with, and only one is confirmed as a bona fide Jew: that’s Kyle Beckerman from Team USA, or “the Yanks.”

Also from the “Yanks” is Tim Howard, whose mother, Esther Howard, may be Jewish going according to her maiden name, the Hungarian Féteke, which means “black”, or the more common Jewish moniker, “Schwarz”.

From Italy, or the “Azzuri”, Mario Balotelli, a Sicilian of Ghanian descent adopted by Jewish Italians, is a rowdy player whose high jinks on the pitch are the stuff of newspaper front pages. Balo isn’t strictly an identified Jew, but during 2012’s Euro Championship in Poland, he visited Auschwitz and spoke about his ancestors that perished there.

Finally, there’s Antoine Griezmann of the French team, “Les Bleus”, who according to one Israeli media source, is Jewish. But we couldn’t confirm this elsewhere.

And so you see why we had to seek out other Jewish/Israel connections.

  • Two Nigerian team members play professional for Israel clubs: Juwon Oshaniwa for Ashdod and Austin Ejide for Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
  • Israeli manufactured drones will guard all of the stadiums and the Israeli security company RISCO Group will provide security at the Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba. (There are 12 venues all together.)
  • There may not be many Jewish players, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be hordes of Jewish fans. A Buenos Aires based Jewish couple, Mariano Schlez and Paola Salem, are using the World Cup to connect Jewish fans in attendance. Their project, Jewish Connect at the World Cup Football 2014, is sponsored by the Schusterman Foundation’s #MakeitHappen program. If you find yourself if Brazil, contact them through Twitter @mundialjudaico.
  • [UPDATE] Thanks to JTA, we’ve been apprised of another Jewish connection. Colombia’s coach, Jose Pekerman, is an Argentine Jew. As a youth, he even played for his local Maccabi club! (He also formerly coached Argentina’s national team.)

If any new information emerges, we’ll make sure to post it here, but in the meantime, we may just have to wait until the next big championship, 2016’s Euro Cup, where perhaps some of the upcoming Jewish talent – Joe Jacobson from Wales and Nick Blackman from England – will have their day in the sun. (Although in saying that, there’s virtually no chance Wales will make it to the Euro. Oh well. Blackman, then.)

But Jewish connection or not, it’s time to get swept up in futebol fever!




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