Menachem Ashkenazi

Menachem Ashkenazi was born in 1934 in Bulgaria

Menachem Ashkenazi was born in Bulgaria in 1934 to a Sephardic Jewish family. In 1936 he moved with his parents to Mandatory Palestine. He was the older brother of Moshe Ashkenazi, who also became a football referee.

He played football from childhood and stood out at 16 in the youth team of Hapoel Petah Tikva. A severe leg injury ended his playing career.

He qualified as a referee in 1957 and became an international referee in 1964. That year he refereed 4 matches at the Tokyo Olympics, including the final. At the 1966 World Cup in England he refereed France against Mexico and the quarterfinal in which Portugal beat North Korea 5-3.

He refereed 45 international matches and 450 Israeli league matches, and also worked for a time in professional football in the United States. After retiring from active refereeing in 1984, he served on the referees association's professional committee and as a referee assessor. He lived in Petah Tikva, worked for the gas company Amisragas, and died in 2000 of a brain hemorrhage after head surgery.