At a large outdoor screening in a central square in Jaffa, dozens of children lounged on beanbags, many wearing Cristiano Ronaldo’s No. 7 Portugal jersey. They bounced in their seats and lobbed popcorn at one another, the late hour and free Coca-Cola adding to the delirium after the 41-year-old striker scored his second goal in the FIFA 2026 World Cup, leading Portugal to a 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan.
The screening, organized by the Tel Aviv municipality, is one of many being held across the country as Israelis, without a team of their own in the football tournament for more than half a century, adopt other nations for the duration of the World Cup. Their choices have always reflected family roots, favorite players and footballing tradition, but this year they are also being influenced by the war, diplomatic loyalties and anger toward countries seen as hostile to Israel.
The interest is widespread. A Walla poll released just before the start of the World Cup found that 61% of Israelis planned to follow the tournament at some level, while 34% of men said they would watch every game, compared with 8% of women.
Lea, whose younger son had fallen asleep against her while her older son sat with the other children in front of the 20-foot screen, said she wasn’t worried about the late hour on a school night. “It’s a big deal and it’s only once every four years,” she said. “Let them have fun.”
Though she did not closely follow football or support a particular team, Lea said she was generally drawn to the South American teams. “It’s more of a show, more over the top,” she said, contrasting them with European teams and citing Germany as an example of a side she considered “overly organized and strategic.” (Indeed, underdog Paraguay ousted the German side on Monday.)
Israeli fans choose South American teams over European teams
At a separate screening the night before, this one in a Tel Aviv park for Argentina’s match against Austria, Adi Keller, wearing an Argentina jersey, described herself as a “promiscuous” World Cup fan. He felt free to move between teams because, with Israel absent, “I have no personal connection to any of them.”
England appeals to her because, she said, it has “the best fans,” and because its supporters have waited since 1966 for another World Cup title. Argentina, though, was her choice that night, largely because of superstar Lionel Messi, and what Keller called the “folklore” of a tournament that could mark the last World Cup for several defining players of their generation, including Messi, Ronaldo and Brazil’s Neymar.
Like Lea, Keller said Israelis often feel closer to South American teams than European ones. “There’s a cultural affinity between South Americans and Israelis,” she said, pointing to the noise, the outdoor barbecues and the sense that the match is an all-day event. South America is also familiar territory for generations of young Israelis, many of whom travel there after completing military service and return with new team jerseys. “It’s a rite of passage,” she said.
Keller was hardly alone. In another poll on Israeli World Cup loyalties published in Globes earlier this month, Argentina was the clear favorite, named by 38% of respondents, ahead of Brazil at 24%. Yoav Berkowitz, head of sports at Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, said Messi had helped move Argentina far ahead of Brazil over the past decade, especially after Argentina’s win in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, “an event that for many Israelis almost crowned Messi as the greatest footballer of all time.” Brazil, by contrast, lacks a current star with the appeal of its earlier icons such as Ronaldinho, Kaka and Pele.
Among Arab citizens of Israel, the picture looks different. Afkar research cited by Globes found Morocco and Brazil tied as the most liked teams, with 25% each. Morocco is one of the few teams able to carry more than one kind of local loyalty, as a source of Arab and Muslim pride after its fourth place in the 2022 World Cup, and as a heritage team for many Moroccan Jews in Israel. (Morocco advanced to the round of 16 on Monday with a thrilling win over the Netherlands.)
Until recently, those preferences had little to do with politics. But since Hamas launched its war on Israel on October 7, 2023, longstanding football allegiances have had to compete with how many Israelis now view the countries behind the teams. That was true for Danino, who was watching Portugal play Uzbekistan in a Tel Aviv pub. Growing up, he said, he and his father were serious football fans who usually supported England or Brazil. “Since October 7, we see the World Cup very differently because of antisemitism,” he said. “So what’s left to support is Argentina because of their president,” he said, referring to Javier Milei, whose outspoken support for Israel has made him popular among many Israelis.
Still, he had not quite given up on England. “A secret part of me still wants them to win. Harry Kane is the best striker in the world,” he said, before adding conspiratorially, “Just don’t tell my dad.”
He also had some love for the United States, which had won its first two group games and advanced to the knock-out rounds, saying the host country should “get as far as possible.”
At the same Argentina-Austria screening, a group of women in their fifties broke into applause and ululated at every close-up of Messi.
One of them, Gila, said they were sisters who had grown up with a football-mad father who made them watch every match. “Hamsa, hamsa, hamsa on Messi,” she said, invoking the amulet against the evil eye. “He has everything. He’s a magician, he’s amazing, but he’s so modest. May God bless him and protect him forever and ever, may he play football until he’s 90.”
Iran ranks among most disliked soccer teams in Israel
Nehorai, at the same screening, made a choice few Jewish Israelis were likely to share. He was supporting Iran, he said, after being impressed by the team’s performance in the World Cup so far, and did not hold the players responsible for the government they represented. “They’re probably not supporting the regime,” he said.
That put him well outside the mainstream. In the Walla poll, Iran was the most disliked team among Jewish Israeli respondents, named by 21%, followed by Turkey at 9%. (The Iran squad was eliminated over the weekend.)
For all the outdoor screenings, much of the World Cup was being followed at home. The Walla poll found that 42% of respondents planned to watch with friends at home, while 30% said they would watch alone.
Roee Hamzani was one of those watching from home. For the duration of the World Cup, he had effectively been relegated to the couch by his wife, because his alarm kept going off in the middle of the night to wake him for matches.
At work, sleep loss was part of the shared routine. “We have this once every four years, it’s a celebration,” Hamzani said. “And this World Cup is much more colorful and interesting; there are a lot of goals, so it draws you in.” In his office, almost everyone was following the games and competing in a shared betting pool.
His team was England, “because we grew up on English football,” and because an England victory would be “one of the greatest stories of all time,” he said.
Still, Argentina was impossible to ignore.
“Messi is really blowing up in this World Cup,” Hamzani said.