Shlomo Scharf
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | January 1, 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Biysk, Altai Krai, USSR | ||
| Playing position | Manager | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Hapoel Kfar Saba | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1961-1973[1][2] | Hapoel Kfar Saba | ||
| Teams managed | |||
| 1974-1976 | Hapoel Kfar Saba | ||
| 1976-1978 | Hapoel Yehud[3] | ||
| 1978-1980 | Hapoel Kfar Saba | ||
| 1980–1983 | Bnei Yehuda | ||
| 1983–1987 | Maccabi Haifa | ||
| 1990–1992 | Maccabi Haifa | ||
| 1992–1999 | Israel | ||
| 2000 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | ||
| 2000 | Hapoel Be'er Sheva | ||
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Shlomo Scharf (Hebrew: שלמה שרף) is a former Israeli football player and manager who now works as a regular commentator on Israeli Sport 5 TV channel. Scharf managed Maccabi Haifa to three championships,[4] and was Israel national football team manager from 1992 to 1999.[5]
Managerial career
As manager of the national team in Israel, Scharf is remembered for beating France 3-2 on French soil. This was just the glorious end of his first European cycle of the national team.
What was most impressive during his tenure as Israeli national coach was that defeats were transformed to draws, and later into victories. His contract was always running for the next two years, and because of the visible improvement in the side, extensions followed.
More games on which good results had been gained was a win against Poland, starting the qualifying campaign for the European Championships, as well as a sound defeat of the Bulgarian national team, without their star Hristo Stoichkov, again in the first match of the qualifying round, this time for the World Cup in France, with the presence of a strong crowd in their home stadium of Ramat Gan.
Scharf's biggest achievement came when long-time nemesis Austria was defeated, with an impressive score of 5-0, Israel's biggest competitive win against an arguably stronger team.
On the negative side were both losses to Cyprus as visitors, as well as the humiliation against Denmark in the Euro 2000 playoffs, which ended the experienced trainer's spell as National team boss.
Following a short spell with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Scharf retired, ending a very prominent coaching career, which is still respected in the local media, and his opinion is periodically required to define what's new and old in Israeli football.
His catchphrase on the Israeli "Sport5" channel is "Out of the ordinary, good" when he enjoys a certain football team or player.
Honours
As a Player
As a Manager
- Israel State Cup
- Winner (4): 1975, 1980, 1981, 1991
- Runner-up (2): 1985, 1987
- Israeli Supercup
- Winner (1): 1985
- UEFA Intertoto Cup
- Winner (1): 1985
References
- ↑ http://terorist00.tripod.com/histo.html
- ↑ http://dribblist.com/israel/teams/hapoel_kfar_saba/1970-1971
- ↑ http://boom.co.il/newsite/page.php?main=view_article&type=0&article_id=33472
- ↑ "Shlomo Scharf, Sports Commentator". Israel Hayom. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
- ↑ Cazal, Jean-Michel; Bleicher, Yaniv (February 19, 2010). "Israel Official Games 1990–1999". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF). Retrieved December 27, 2010.
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