in 1949 1929 on Hala Boracza , c. 1930 As early as the 19th century, Jewish sports clubs were founded in Eastern and Central Europe. The first club was the
Israelite Gymnastic Association Constantinople () founded in 1895 in
Istanbul,
Turkey by
Jews of
German and
Austrian extraction who had been rejected from participating in other social sport clubs. Two years later,
haGibor was formed in
Plovdiv,
Bulgaria, and 1898 saw the founding of
Bar Kochba Berlin along with
Vivó és Athletikai Club in
Budapest,
Hungary. Other clubs that followed were named after “
Bar Kochba” or Hebrew names such as “Hakoah” or “Hagibor” that symbolized strength and heroism. One of the basic premises behind the founding of these clubs was Jewish Nationalism, and specifically "
Muscular Judaism". The concept was that Jews were not only a religious entity, but also one based on a common historical and social background, having special cultural and psychological concepts that have been preserved to this day, resulting in a strong recognition of collective belonging. At
Kraków, Poland there was during the interwar period a deep animosity between the locally based
Makkabi Kraków club and the rival
Jewish club
Jutrzenka Kraków, associated with the
Bund political party. While both clubs shared in the above aspiration to demonstrate a Jewish physical strength, they had divergent political programs - the one sharing in the Zionist aspiration of creating a Jewish state in Palestine, while the other was oriented to the Bundist program of Jewish cultural autonomy in Europe. This political opposition exacerbated their athletic rivalry between fans and players, to the point that matches between the two teams were generally referred to as a "Holy War". In 1906, the first Jewish gymnastics club was formed in
British Palestine. Clubs later would spring up in other cities. By 1912, all of them joined the Maccabi Federation of Israel. That same year, the first relations were established between them and their European counterparts, when a decision was taken at the Maccabi Conference in Berlin to begin group trips to
British Palestine. Maccabi GB is a member of the English
National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) because of its work promoting the personal and social development of young people. The Maccabi World Union was created at the 12th
World Jewish Congress in
Karlovy Vary,
Czechoslovakia in 1921. It was then decided by the secretariat of Jewish sport leaders to form one umbrella organization for all Jewish sports associations. Its aims were defined as working "foster physical education, belief in Jewish heritage and the Jewish nation, and to work actively for the rebuilding of our own country and for the preservation of our people". In 2024, the Maccabi World Union signed a multi-million shekel agreement with the Israeli government to contribute to Israel's
world-wide public relations effort. ==See also==