On February 22, 1938, exactly 79 years ago, Rafi Levi was born. In honor of his birthday, the Legends Club dedicates this week’s column to one of the all-time great Maccabi Tel Aviv strikers.
צילום: אתר ההתאחדות ()
Levi was considered the other half of Sheva Glazer as part of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s potent attack of the 1950’s. Levi made his debut for the senior side at just 17-years old on the first Matchday of the 1954/55 season against Maccabi Netanya. Maccabi won the contest 6:1 as Levi scored the second goal just prior to half time. The youngster would score three more goals during the campaign as he began to show everyone that he was going to be the Yellow & Blue’s striker of the future.
The following season Levi found the back of the goal six times while scoring a brace in a 3:0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Derby. In the 1957/58 campaign, Levi’s numbers just kept getting better as he took home the league’s scoring title with 14 markers. In a State Cup semifinal contest against Shimshon Tel Aviv, Levi scored five times and also put home one strike in the final versus Hapoel Haifa as Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrated winning the Double which included the coveted Cup and league title.
צילום: אתר ההתאחדות ()
Levi added another goal scoring title in 1959/60 when he scored 19 goals in 20 league matches. In total, the striker won two league championships and three Israel State Cups while playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv between 1954-1961 before heading to Australia and South Africa where he played for five years. In 1966, he returned to the Yellow & Blue for one campaign and then went back to South Africa yet again where he was active until his retirement in 1972. Levi scored a total of 86 goals for Maccabi which puts him in 10th place on the club’s goal scoring list.
With the Israel National Team, Levi scored 11 goals in 17 appearances. One of his great moments was when he scored a brace in Belgrade against Yugoslavia in a 2:1 win during the 1960 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The win was considered one of the sensational performances that was talked about all over Europe and led to the launch of a book series entitled, “Young Athletes”. Levi was the inspiration for the first book in the series called, “Shoot, Alon Shoot” as the book’s personality, “Alon Levi” was based on Rafi.
Titles & Awards
Championships: 1957/58, 1955/56
State Cups: 1954/55, 1958/59, 1957/58
Appearances: 132
Goals: 86
