Leo Goldstein
{{Short description|American-Israeli football referee}}
Leo Goldstein ({{langx|he|לאו גולדשטיין}}) was an American-Israeli association football referee who survived the Holocaust thanks to his expertise in the rules of soccer.{{cite web|url=http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=soccer&ID=101|archive-url=https://archive.today/20040601063222/http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=soccer&ID=101|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 1, 2004|title=Profile|accessdate=22 August 2010|publisher=Jews In Sports}}
Biography
Leo Goldstein was a Polish-born Jew. He was deported to Auschwitz and was condemned to the gas chambers but was suddenly pulled aside by an SS guard who claimed to be a German international soccer player. He was ordered to return to the barracks and serve as a referee in soccer games between soldiers and guards at Auschwitz and nearby camps.[https://books.google.com/books?id=9_7lDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 Soccer under the Swastika, Kevin E. Simpson]
After the war he immigrated to Israel, but eventually settled in New York, where he worked as a taxi driver and a referee of soccer games in the Bowery.[https://books.google.com/books?id=sEh7A0arS8kC&pg=PA166 Soccer Stories: Anecdotes, Oddities, Lore, and Amazing Feats, Donn Risolo]
Sports career
Goldstein refereed for the American Soccer League in the 1950s and 1960s,{{cite web|url=http://www.soccerhall.com/Election%20Process/2005/BuilderBios_2005.htm|title=Builder Eligibility Biographies|accessdate=22 August 2010|publisher=National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023}}
before becoming a FIFA international referee between 1959 and 1967. Goldstein was active as an assistant referee at FIFA World Cups, officiating the Hungary-EnglandFIFA. [https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=21/results/matches/match=1490/report.html "Match Report - Hungary - England 2:1 (1:0)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120827120752/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition%3D21/results/matches/match%3D1490/report.html |date=2012-08-27 }}. 31 May 1962. Retrieved on 28 April 2013. and Chile-ItalyFIFA. [https://web.archive.org/web/20071022203253/http://fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=21/results/matches/match=1472/report.html "Match Report - Chile - Italy 2:0 (0:0)"]. 2 June 1962. Retrieved on 28 April 2013. matches in the group stages in 1962. He also officiated in the 1959 Pan American GamesMora Rivera, José de Jesus; Litterer, Dave; Morrison, Neil; Jönsson, Mikael. [https://www.rsssf.org/tablesp/panam59.html "Panamerican Games 1959"]. RSSSF, 4 January 2013. Retrieved on 28 April 2013. and 1962 World Cup qualifiers.RSSSF. [https://www.rsssf.org/tables/62qual.html "World Cup 1962 qualifications"]. Retrieved on 28 April 2013.
Goldstein is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum.
See also
References
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Category:Year of birth missing
Category:Year of death missing
Category:1962 FIFA World Cup referees
Category:American soccer referees
Category:American taxi drivers
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Category:20th-century Polish Jews
Category:Polish emigrants to Israel
Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States