Israeli soccer team sets record with 31-0 win
Referee runs out of space to record names of goalscorers as Hapoel Zafririm Holon trounces Maccabi Pardes Katz in 5th-division play
Fifth division soccer team Hapoel Zafririm Holon embarrassed its opponent Maccabi Pardes Katz with a record 31-0 victory on Thursday.
Pardes Katz, based in Bnei Brak, now holds the miserable record of suffering the two worst defeats in Israeli soccer history, having lost to Hapoel Ramat Yisrael 26-0 during the 2020 season.
Pardes Katz, currently bottom in the fifth division standings, was missing many of its regular players and was forced to play Thursday’s entire match with just 10 players, instead of the usual 11, against league-leaders Holon, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
According to the report, as the scoreline continued to blow out, Holon players asked the referee to end the game early, arguing that the contest no longer had any sporting value. But, bound by the sport’s rules, he said he was unable to do so.
In another bizarre incident, the referee ran out of space in his notepad to record the names of each goalscorer. Instead, with names piling up quickly, he asked all goalscorers to present themselves after the full-time whistle to have their names accurately recorded.
As the rout deepened, Holon coach Mike Mizrachi asked his players to “take their foot off the gas” to avoid further embarrassment for their opponents, Kan reported, even telling Pardes Katz that “quiet will be met with quiet.”
One of Holon’s players, Aviv Cohen, scored seven goals; two others finished with five goals each.
An unnamed official from the victorious Holon side told Kan: “It’s embarrassing for us to win with this scoreline, it’s a bad look. We didn’t come to humiliate Pardes Katz… They’re a team of youngsters and they just wanted to continue playing the match with mutual respect.”
