Shlomo Scharf

Hapoel Kfar Saba

In 1974 Scharf was appointed coach of Hapoel Kfar Saba's senior team, which he led to its first State Cup win in 1975. After that he coached Hapoel Yehud for two years, and when he returned to Hapoel Kfar Saba he won another State Cup with it in 1980. He then began coaching Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, with which he won the State Cup in 1981.

Maccabi Haifa

His big breakthrough came when he started coaching Maccabi Haifa in 1983, until then a team without ambition whose main goal was to play attacking and entertaining football. Scharf instilled a winning mentality in Haifa's talented squad and built an attacking team based on four forwards, including Ronny Rosenthal and Zahi Armeli. At the end of the 1983–84 season, Maccabi Haifa won its first ever championship. The following year, under his guidance, the team won a second championship. In 1990 Scharf returned to coach Maccabi Haifa and won the double with them in the 1990–91 season. In addition to the double, Scharf built an excellent midfield spearheaded by Reuven Atar and two young talents: Eyal Berkovic and Tal Banin. Despite the publicized disputes between Scharf and the young Berkovic, the two later became friends, and Berkovic went on to become one of Scharf's biggest supporters.

Israel national team

Following his success with Maccabi Haifa, Scharf was appointed coach of the Israel national team, leading it from 1992 to 2000. During his tenure, the national team improved its…

Scharf was born in Biysk, Siberia in the Soviet Union (now part of Russia) to a Holocaust survivor family of Polish origin that was exiled there during World War II. He immigrated to Israel in 1949 and after spending a year in an immigrant camp in Pardes Hanna, moved to veteran housing in Kfar Saba. He began playing football for Hapoel Kfar Saba, and between 1961 and 1974 he coached the youth department of Hapoel Kfar Saba, while also being an active player for the club.

As a player

Israeli Second Division: 1966–68; runner-up 1965–66

As a manager

Israeli Premier League: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1990–91; runner-up 1980–81, 1985–86 Israel State Cup: 1975, 1980, 1981, 1991; runner-up 1985, 1987 Israeli Supercup: 1985 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1985