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Zvi Erlich

Zvi Erlich, nicknamed Doctor, was a football player and coach who played for Hapoel Tel Aviv and the Mandatory Palestine national team.

1909 to 1983Forward for Hapoel Tel AvivMandatory Palestine national team playerCoaching Maccabi Tel Aviv youth

Born: 7 November 1909, Vienna
Died: 17 June 1983
Occupation: association football player, association football coach

Zvi Erlich was born in 1909 in Vienna

Zvi Erlich was born in Vienna on 7 November 1909. He played for 10 years for Hakoah Vienna. The club stopped its activity in 1938 after Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany.

In 1939 he moved to the Land of Israel with his teammate Herbert Meitner and joined Hapoel Tel Aviv as a forward. That year he also took part in a Maccabi Tel Aviv tour of Australia. On 27 April 1940 he played his only match for the Mandatory Palestine national team, a friendly against Lebanon.

He retired as a player in 1947 and became a coach. He coached Hapoel Tel Aviv youth and senior teams, and later Hapoel Kfar Saba, Maccabi Netanya, Hapoel Ramat Gan and Maccabi Jaffa. He worked for 20 years in the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth department and in 1967 was named interim coach of its senior team for 4 matches.

He served as honorary president of the coaches' association and on the board of the Israel Football Association until his death in June 1983. He left a wife and 2 daughters.