Emmanuel Scheffer

Emmanuel Scheffer was born in 1923 in Berlin

Scheffer was born in Germany in 1923 to Jewish parents from Poland, and spent his childhood moving between Germany and France. In 1936 the family returned to the father's hometown in Poland, where he attended a gymnasium in Drohobych and began playing football for Beitar Drohobych.

In 1939 he fled east, working in a shoe factory near Baku and later playing for Dynamo Alma-Ata. His family was murdered by the Nazis. After the war he founded and coached a Jewish team in Bielawa, Poland.

He immigrated to Israel in 1950, worked as a mechanic at Haifa port and played for Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Kfar Saba. An injury ended his playing career in 1957.

In 1958 he trained at the coaching school in Cologne. Back in Israel he coached many clubs and the youth team, winning the Asian youth championship 4 times from 1964 to 1967. He managed the national team in 1968 to 1970, including the 1968 Olympics and the 1970 World Cup, and again from 1978.

He also became the Adidas importer in Israel. He died on 28 December 2012.