The political situation culminated in Israel winning the 1958 World Cup qualifying stage for Asia and Africa without playing a single game, forcing FIFA to schedule a playoff between Israel and Wales to ensure the team did not qualify without playing at least one game (which Wales won).

[9][8] The vote coincided with the 1974 Asian Games, where the football competition was marred by the refusal of both North Korea[10] and Kuwait to play second-round matches against Israel.

In 1973 and 1977, Israel participated in the World Cup qualification tournament which included teams from both Asia and Oceania, but failed to qualify.

During the early 1980s, Israel played the majority of its matches against UEFA (Europe) teams, and competed in the European stage of qualification for the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

As a result, Israel made it to the CONMEBOL–OFC play-offs to represent Oceania and play against CONMEBOL's (South America) Colombia for the 1990 World Cup, but lost (1–0, 0–0).

Within Europe, Israel has been a relatively minor nation, though with some successes, notably winning 3–2 in Paris against France in 1993, and 5–0 against Austria in 1999.

Israel came close to advancing to the playoff stage in their 2006 World Cup qualifying group, finishing third, behind France, and tied on points with Switzerland, which also remained unbeaten in 10 matches after 4 wins and 6 draws.

Despite finishing 5th and penultimate in their particularly homogeneous qualifying group, Israel earned the right to play in the play-offs thanks to their position in the 2018-2019 edition of the Nations League.

Promoted to League B for the 2020-2021 edition of the Nations League without having finished top of their group in the previous edition, thanks to the change of format subsequently decided by UEFA, Israel ensured their survival by finishing 3rd and penultimate in their group, with a balanced record of 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.

At the 2022-2023 Nations League, Israel finished top of its 3-team group (Russia, which should have taken part, was excluded from European and international competitions due to its aggression against Ukraine), thanks to 2 wins over Albania (2–1 in both legs) and 2 draws against Iceland (2–2 on each occasion), synonymous with promotion to League A for the 2024-2025 edition.

Against Iceland in the semi-finals of the play-offs for Path B, they opened the scoring with Eran Zahavi's 31st-minute penalty, but failed to hold on to their advantage and were soundly beaten (1–4).

The first home game of the Israel national football team was at Palms Ground on 6 April 1934 against Egypt in a 1934 World Cup qualifier.

Prior to the formation of Israel, they also played at the Maccabi Ground for the 1938 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and Maccabiah Stadium.

The first national team to represent the newly formed State of Israel back in 1948, had played at the Ramat Gan Stadium as part of 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification, in front of 55,000 spectators.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following players were called for 2024–25 UEFA Nations, on 14 and 17 November 2024 against France and Belgium; respectively.