Roby Young

Roby Young
רובי יאנג

Personal information
Full name	Reuven Young ראובן יאנג
Date of birth	(1942-05-15) May 15, 1942
Place of birth	Haifa, Israel, Israel
Position(s)	Wing back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1959–1976	Hapoel Haifa	196	(43)
1972–1973	New York Cosmos (loan)	18	(2)
International career
1961–1969	Israel	50	(8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Reuven "Roby" Young (Hebrew: רובי יאנג‎; born 15 May 1942) is a former Israeli international footballer, and captain of Hapoel Haifa.

Biography

Young, who is Jewish, was born in Haifa, Israel.

Professional Soccer Career in Israel

As a left winger, he was a part of the Hapoel Haifa youth squad that won the National title without losing a single match. Because of his terrific play he was promoted at age 16 to the senior side where he played an entire decade and won two National Cups. Young was the first captain of the Israeli national team that came from Haifa. He also played for the only Israeli National Soccer Team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup (held in Mexico City in 1970), and he participated as a member of the Israeli soccer team in the 1968 Olympic Games.

Young became a household name in Israel when, on October 15, 1961, at age 19, he scored a brilliant goal against powerhouse Italy in a 1962 World Cup Qualifier to give Israel a 2–0 lead. While Israel w ent on to lose 4–2, the goal—in which he dribble past Cesare Maldini and scored on Lorenzo Buffon—helped put Israel on the soccer map. [1] Young later captained Israel to its Asia Cup title in 1964. Young also captained the team against a mighty England squad that would later win the 1966 World Cup. Young's Israeli squad eventually qualified for the 1970 World Cup (its only appearance to date) and tied Italy and Sweden in the group stage. At the time of his retirement from international soccer, Young was the most capped player to play for Israel, earning 50 caps from age 18–27, after which he moved his family to the United States to play for the famed New York Cosmos.

Young was named soccer "Player of the Millennium" in Haifa, Israel in 2001.

Move to the United States

After leaving Hapoel Haifa, Young enrolled at Adelphi University in the United States where he received his Bachelor of Science degree and Masters in Health Education. Upon his arrival in the United States, Young was signed by the historic New York Cosmos soccer team in the North American Soccer League (NASL), where his team won the 1972 NASL Championship and were semi-finalists in 1973. Roby played left wing for the Cosmos and was a pivotal member of the championship squad.

After football

He coached the Queen's College men's soccer team from 1986 to 1989 and the women's football (soccer) team at Queens College from 1999 to 2008. He was the athletic director at Buckley Country Day School & cofounded the Buckley Summer Camp in 1984. He retired from Buckley in 2013 but is still an active teacher in chess.

External links

• Profile on Queens College Website