This list of Jewish athletes in sports contains athletes who are Jewish and have attained outstanding achievements in sports. The topic of Jewish participation in sports is discussed extensively in academic and popular literature.
Sports have been a historical avenue for Jewish people to overcome obstacles toward their participation in secular society. Jewish people immigrated from the countries where they had faced persecution. Some made Aliyah to the State of Israel,See, e.g.: Encyclopedia of Jewish people in Sports by Bernard Postal, Jesse Silver, Roy Silver (1965); Great Jewish Athletes in Sports by Robert Slater (2003), ; Emancipation Through Muscles: Jews and Sports in Europe by Michael Brenner, Gideon Reuveni (2006), ; Jewish, Sports, and the Rites of Citizenship ed. Jack Kugelmass (2007), ; Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience by Peter Levine (1993) ; Judaism's Encounter with American Sports by Jeffrey S. Gurock (2005) . while others moved elsewhere.
The criteria for inclusion in this list are: 1–3 places winners at major international tournaments; For team sports, winning in preliminary competitions of finals at major international tournaments, or playing for several seasons for clubs of major national leagues; or Holders of past and current world records.
Boldface denotes a current competitor.
To be included in the list, one does not necessarily have to practice Judaism. Some members of the list may practice another faith or not at all; they do have to be of either ethnic Jewish descent or other Judaism-related background.
American football
Sid Abramowitz, US, OT Erik Affholter, US, WR, set national field goal record Doc Alexander, US, G, 2× All-Pro Lyle Alzado, US, DE, 2× All-Pro Harris Barton, US, OT, 2× All-Pro Alan Bersin, US, defensive lineman, offensive guard, and linebacker, Harvard, First Team All-Ivy League, All-New England, and All-East"B'klyn Rhodes Scholars Hope for New Ideas," Daily News. David Binn, US, LS, All-Pro Arthur Bluethenthal, US, C Greg Camarillo, US, WR Noah Cantor, Canada, DT, 2x Canadian Football League All Star Gabe Carimi, US, OT, All-American and Outland Trophy Jake Curhan, US, OT Jordan Dangerfield, US, SS JT Daniels, US, QB, Gatorade Player of the Year Brian de la Puente, US, C A. J. Dillon (Quadzilla), US, RB (Carolina Panthers)[ Michael Dunn, US, G Nate Ebner, US, DB Brad Edelman, US, OG, 1× Pro Bowl Julian Edelman, US, WR, MVP in Super Bowl LIII Jay Fiedler, US, QB Anthony Firkser, US, TE John Frank, US, TE Benny Friedman, US, QB & halfback, 4× All-Pro, Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame Lennie Friedman, US, G Steve Furness, US, DL Antonio Garay, US, DTJewish Sports Review, September/October 2010, Vol. 7, Issue 81 Sid Gillman, US, end and coach, Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame Adam Goldberg, US, OL Bill Goldberg, US, DT; professional wrestler (4× world champion) Marshall “Biggie” Goldberg, US, RB, All-Pro, College Football Hall of Fame Charles "Buckets" Goldenberg, US, G & RB, All-Pro Lou Gordon, US, OL Randy Grossman, US, TE Arnold Horween, US, halfback, fullback, center, and blocking back (quarterback), Harvard All-American, and NFL player Ralph Horween, US, fullback, halfback, punter, and drop-kicker, Harvard All-American and NFL player Greg Joseph, South African, kicker Sonny Karnofsky, US, HB Perry Klein, US, QB Kyle Kosier, US, OL Mort Landsberg, US, HB Len “Butch” Levy, US, G Erik Lorig, US, FB Sid Luckman, US, QB, 8× All-Pro, MVP, Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame Joe Magidsohn, Russia, Halfback Ali Marpet, US, G Taylor Mays, US, S Sam McCullum, US, WR"McCullum, Sam" Jews In Sports. Retrieved June 21, 2010. Josh Miller, US, P Wayne Millner, US, E, DE, Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame Ron Mix, US, OT, 9× All-Pro, Pro Football Hall of Fame Ed Newman, US, G, All-Pro, College Football Hall of Fame, NFL passing yards and touchdowns leader Harry Newman, US, QB, All-Pro Brent Novoselsky, US, TE Igor Olshansky, Ukraine, DE Adam Podlesh, US, P Merv Pregulman, US, T & C, College Football Hall of Fame Jake Retzlaff, US, QB (Tulane Green Wave) Josh Rosen, US, QB Sage Rosenfels, US, QB Mike Rosenthal, US, T Sam Salz, US, receiver, Texas A & M; rare Orthodox Jewish player in Division 1 college football Adam Schreiber, US, C/LS Geoff Schwartz, US, OT Mitchell Schwartz, US, OT, All-Pro Mike Seidman, US, TE Allie Sherman, US, running back, QB & coach Steve Shull, US, LB Scott Slutzker, US, TE Ariel Solomon, US, OL Bob Stein, US, LB Paul “Twister” Steinberg, US, FB/HBSteinberg, Paul "Twister" : Jews In Sports @ Virtual Museum Rich Stotter, US, LB Michael Stromberg, US, LB Terrell Suggs, US, DE, All-Pro, NFL Defensive Player of the Year Steve Tannen, US, CB Joseph Taussig, Germany-born US, QB Andre Tippett, US, LB, 2× All-Pro, NFL co-Defensive Player of the Year, Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame Alan Veingrad, US, OL Izzy Weinstock, US, FB Gary Wood, US, QB Sid Youngelman, US, OT Joe Zelikovitz, Canadian gridiron football player
Association football (soccer)
Liel Abada, Israel, forward (Charlotte & national team) Ryan Adeleye, US/Israel, defender (Atlantic City FC) Jeff Agoos, US, defender (national team) Yari Allnut, US, midfielder (national team) Hennadiy Altman, Ukraine, goalkeeper Kyle Altman, US, defender Dudu Aouate, Israel, goalkeeper (RCD Mallorca & national team) Gary Assous, France/Israel, midfielder (Hapoel Katamon Jerusalem F.C.) Jonathan Assous, France/Israel, defensive midfielder Gai Assulin, Israel, winger/attacking midfielder Yael Averbuch, US National Team, midfielder Finn Azaz, Ireland national team and Middlesbrough Pini Balili, Israel, striker (Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam & national team) Tal Banin, Israel, midfielder, national team, manager Tai Baribo, Israel, forward (D.C. United & national team) Orr Barouch, Israel, striker Kyle Beckerman, US, midfielder (Real Salt Lake & national team) David Beckham, UK, midfielder, English Football Hall of Fame, Premier League Hall of Fame (England national team) David "Dedi" Ben Dayan, Israel, left defender (Maccabi Petah Tikva & national team) Tal Ben Haim, Israel, center back/right back (Beitar Jerusalem & national team) Arik Benado, Israel, defender (national team)"Benado, Arik", Jews In Sports Yossi Benayoun, Israel, attacking midfielder Eyal Berkovic, Israel, midfielder (national team) Rhett Bernstein, US, defender (Miami FC) Steve Birnbaum, US, defender (D.C. United & national team)"Sports Shorts," Jewish Sports Review, Volume 9, Number 11, Issue 107, Page 19, January/February 2015. Gyula Bíró, Hungary, midfielder/forward (national team) Nir Bitton, Israel, defender/midfielder (Ashdod & national team) Nick Blackman, England/Barbados/Israel, striker (Maccabi Tel Aviv & Barbados national team) Jean Bloch, France, Olympic silver Harald Bohr, Denmark, Olympic silver Noam Bonnet, France, midfielder (Hapeol Acre) Louis Bookman, Lithuanian-born Ireland, forward Jonathan Bornstein, US/Israel, left back/midfielder (Chicago Fire & U.S. national team)Bornstein – named as on "Jewish Sports Review Men's All-America First-Team" at ; "'It was amazing. It was great. I loved it. It made me realize how fulfilling and enriched Jewish culture really is', Bornstein said. 'So in the past couple years, I've felt more Jewish than ever.' His father is Jewish and his mother is a non-Jew.... Grew up celebrating Passover and Rosh Hashanah with relatives.... doesn't consider himself observant. The Maccabiah experience was a way for him to connect with Judaism." David Boysen, Denmark/Israel, left winger Daniel Brailovski, Argentina/Uruguay, midfielder (Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay, & Israel national teams) Adam Braz, Canada, defender Ashley Brown, Australia, football (soccer) player Melbourne Victory Jordan Brown, Australia, midfielder (Melbourne Victory) Tomer Chencinski, Israel/Canada, goalkeeper (Shamrock Rovers & national team) Jordan Cila, US, forward (Under-17 World Cup) Avi Cohen, Israel, defender (Liverpool, Rangers, Maccabi Tel Aviv & national team) Martin Cohen, South Africa, midfielder (Highlands Park, LA Aztecs, California Surf, Wits University & national team) Steven Cohen, France-Israel, midfielder Tamir Cohen, Israel, midfielder (national team) Yonatan Cohen, Israel, attacking midfielder/forward (Maccabi Tel Aviv & national team) Edgar Davids, Netherlands, midfielder (Ajax Amsterdam, Juventus, and national team) Rolf Decker, Germany-born US, midfielder (US national team) Micky Dulin, England (Tottenham) Daniel Edelman, US, midfielder (New York Red Bulls) Yaniv Edery, France/Morocco, defender (F.C. Jerusalem) Yakov Ehrlich, Russia, striker (FC Ocean Kerch) Sol Eisner, US, forward (New York Americans and USMNT) Ilay Elmkies, Israel, midfielder (Ironi Tiberias & national team) Ernő Egri Erbstein, Hungary, midfielder Benny Feilhaber, Brazil/US, center/attacking midfielder (Sporting Kansas City & U.S. national team)Feilhaber – "Outside of my UCLA teammate Benny Feilhaber, I never really thought there were other high-class Jewish soccer players out there" Ilay Feingold, Israel, right-back/centre-back (New England Revolution & national team) Lajos Fischer, Hungary, goalkeeper, national team player"Fischer, Lajos", Jews In Sports Otto Fischer, Austria, national team player and coach Gottfried Fuchs, Germany/Canada (Germany national team) Dean Furman, South Africa, midfielder (Warrington Rylands 1906 & national team) Peter Fuzes, Australia, goalkeeper Sándor Geller, Hungary, goalkeeper, Olympic champion Mikhail Gershkovich, URS, forward, Europe U-19 Champion (national team) Ludwik Gintel, Poland, defender and forward (national team) Jake Girdwood-Reich, Australia, defensive midfielder/central defender (St. Louis City SC) Jordan Gruber, US, striker Andy Gruenebaum, US, goalkeeper Béla Guttmann, Hungary, midfielder, national team player & international coach Rudy Haddad, France/Israel, midfielder Eddy Hamel, US, right winger (AFC Ajax; killed by the Nazis in Auschwitz) Tomer Hemed, Israel, forward (Maccabi Haifa & national team) Julius Hirsch, Germany, winger (Karlsruher FV; killed by the Nazis) Ya'akov Hodorov, Israel, goalkeeper (national team)"Chodorov, Ya'acov," Jews In Sports Rinus Israel, Netherlands, defender (Feyenoord and national team) Joe Jacobson, Wales, left back (Wycombe Wanderers & U21 national team) Tvrtko Kale, Croatia/Israel, goalkeeper Viktor Kanevskyi, URS, striker & manager Tal Karp, Australia, midfielder (Melbourne Victory) Scott Kashket, England, striker (Welling United) Yaniv Katan, Israel, forward/winger (Maccabi Haifa & national team) Josh Kennet, England/Israel, midfielder/right back (London Lions) Gyula Kertész, Hungary, winger, player & manager Vilmos Kertész, Hungary, winger, 47 national team caps Józef Klotz, Poland, national team; killed by the Nazis Konstantin Krizhevsky, URS/Russia, defender (national team) Mark Lazarus, England, right winger Jonathan Levin, Mexico, midfielder (Venados) Lucas Matías Licht, Argentina, left defender/left winger (Villa San Carlos) Marcelo Lipatin, Uruguay, forward (C.D. Trofense) Józef Lustgarten, Poland (17 years in the Gulag) Zac MacMath, US, goalkeeper (Real Salt Lake) Mickaël Madar, France, striker Melissa Maizels, Australia, goalkeeper (Melbourne Victory FC (W-League)) Gyula Mándi, Hungary, half back (player & coach of Hungarian and Israeli national teams) Ofir Marciano, Israel, goalkeeper (Hapoel Be'er Sheva & national team) Shep Messing, US, goalkeeper (national team), manager, and sportscaster Federico Mociulsky, Argentina, midfielder (Deportivo Roca) Bennie Muller, Netherlands, midfielder (Ajax Amsterdam & national team) Andriy Oberemko, Ukraine, midfielder (U21 national team)