Born in 1934 in a Jewish Sephardic family in Bulgaria, in 1936 he emigrated with his parents to
Mandatory Palestine. Since his childhood he played soccer and distinguished himself at 16 as a player in the youth football team of the club
Hapoel Petah Tikva. But following a severe fracture of his leg, he had to stop his career as a football player. Ashkenazi had a long career as a
FIFA official, supervising international matches as a referee or linesman during the period from 1961 to 1986. He officiated in the final of the
1964 Olympic tournament (the only Israeli referee ever to do so) and also in the
1966 FIFA World Cup. He was in charge in one of the most memorable matches of that World Cup,
Portugal's 5–3 win over
North Korea in the quarterfinal. His other international competitions as a referee included
1966 and
1978 World Cup qualifiers. ==See also==