Mordechai Spiegler

Mordechai Spiegler was born in 1944 in Asbest

Spiegler was born on 19 August 1944 in Asbest, in the Soviet Union, the youngest of 5 children of Alexander and Hania Spiegler. His father was a shoemaker and his mother a seamstress. The family immigrated to Israel in 1949 and he grew up in Netanya, where he began playing football.

He joined the senior team of Maccabi Netanya in the 1960/1961 season. He was the league's goal scoring champion in 1965/1966, 1966/1968 and 1968/1969, and led the club to its first championship in 1970/1971. He later played for Paris FC, Paris Saint-Germain and the New York Cosmos, where he played alongside Pelé, before winning the double with Netanya in 1978.

With the national team he won the 1964 AFC Asian Cup and captained the Olympic team at Mexico City 1968, which reached the quarterfinals. He scored against Australia in 1969 in the match that sent Israel to the World Cup, and scored against Sweden at the 1970 tournament. He scored 32 goals in 83 appearances by the count of the Israel Football Association.

As a coach he led Beitar Tel Aviv to promotion and won the 1982/1983 championship with Maccabi Netanya. He also coached Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem. In 2003 the Israel Football Association named him its player of the prior 50 years in the UEFA Jubilee Awards.