Last update - 00:00 11/02/2007
Under-21s admit to gambling on eve of Ukraine friendly
By Moshe Boker
The Israel Football Association has decided not to suspend members of the national under-21 team after it was revealed that they were involved in a raucous, late-night gambling session at the team's hotel on the eve of the friendly against Ukraine last week. The decision comes after the guilty players admitted their involvement.
Instead of facing a ban from the team, they will be hauled up in front of a disciplinary committee on charges of violating the IFA's code of ethics. An IFA source said last night that as far as the association is concerned, the players' confession and apology effectively ends the affair.
The IFA also announced that it would not, as it first stated, be hiring a team of private investigators to discover which players were involved. IFA bosses who had received assurances from the players expressed their surprise and disappointment at the subsequent confession.
Team coach Guy Levi heard about the players' confession when he arrived in Sweden, where he will represent Israel at the draw for the qualifying round of the European Championships. Levi will consult with under-21 team manager Eli Rosen over what action to take beyond whatever punishment the IFA disciplinary committee metes out.
Israel's national soccer teams are no strangers to scandal. In 1999, members of the senior national team reportedly spent the night before a vital playoff match against Denmark with prostitutes. They lost the game 5-0. And in 2001, seven members of the under-21 squad were handed two-year bans from international action fo r a similar transgression.