Jerry Beit haLevi

Jerry Beit haLevi

Personal information
Full name	Moshe Beit haLevi
Date of birth	14 November 1912
Place of birth	Łódź, Congress Poland
Date of death	3 February 1997 (aged 84)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1927–1943	Maccabi Tel Aviv
National team
1938	Mandatory Palestine	1	(0)
Teams managed
1947–1952	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1952–1953	Hapoel Tel Aviv
1953–1958	Maccabi Tel Aviv
1953–1954	Israel
1958–1960	Maccabi Netanya
1957	Israel
1960–1961	Nigeria
–	Maccabi Tel Aviv
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Moshe "Jerry" Beit haLevi (Hebrew: ג'רי בית הלוי‎) was an Israeli football player and manager.

Playing career

Jerry played on the field with his brother Avraham. In 1939, during a tour of Australia, Avraham decided to stay in the country and it was the last time that Jerry would see his brother who ended up dying in battle against Japanese forces in New Guinea.

Managerial career

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Israel

After the retirement of Egon Pollack, Beit haLevi took over the reins of the club that made him famous as a player. He built a strong side that was arguably the strongest side in the country. Star players Eli Fuchs, Itzhak Schneor and Shiye Glazer and tough tactics helped Beit haLevi capture two league championships in 1951 and 1952 as well as a double in 1954. He left Maccabi for a brief stint at city rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv before bringing Maccabi another league title in 1956.

During his time with Maccabi, Beit haLevi served two terms as manager of the Israel national football team. His bunker tactics led to the national team's style of play being referred to as "Jerry's bunker". After the 1956 season with Maccabi, Beit haLevi was fired, though he returned in the 1960s and is credited with the development of such national team stars such as Giora Spiegel. After retiring from coaching, he served as the chairman for the club.

Nigerian national team

In 1960, Jerry received an offer to coach the Nigerian national football team, which he accepted. In his first match against Ghana, Nigeria were crushed 3–0 in front of 100,000 fans in Lagos and the press called for Beit haLevi to be fired. He decided to stick with the job and helped build up a better Nigerian side. During this time he was also heavily involved in trying to exhume the body of his brother for burial in Israel, but was unsuccessful.^[1]

Footnotes

1. Asher Goldberg (23 June 2003). הישראלי הראשון שאימן נבחרת אפריקאית [Israel's first African team coached]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 August 2014.