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Yosef Merimovich

Yosef Merimovich was an Israeli football player and coach who played for Maccabi Tel Aviv and coached the Israel national team.

1924 to 2011Maccabi Tel Aviv forwardWinning the 1964 Asian CupAdding yellow to Maccabi's colors

Born: 24 July 1924, Pyrogi
Died: 5 May 2011, Israel
Occupation: association football player, association football coach

Yosef Merimovich was born in 1924 in Pyrogi

Yosef Merimovich was born in 1924 in Margo, a colony for Jewish refugees in Cyprus. He moved with his family to Mandatory Palestine in 1927. His older brother Menachem was also a football player.

He played his whole career for Maccabi Tel Aviv as a forward. He won 6 championships and 6 cups with the club. In 1942 he suggested adding yellow to the club colors, as a sign of identification with the Jews of Europe.

In the 1949-1950 season he scored the winning goal in the title game and finished as the league's goal scorer with 25 goals. He played 14 games for the Israel national team and scored 4 goals. He retired as a player in 1958.

He then coached Maccabi Tel Aviv and won the State Cup. In 1964 he became coach of Israel and won the Asian Cup that year. He later coached Hapoel Tel Aviv, returned to Israel in 1982, and coached Maccabi Tel Aviv a third time in 1988-1989.

From 1992 he served as president of the football coaches' association. He died on 5 May 2011 and was buried at Kibbutz Horshim.