LONDON — David Bolchover immediately issues a challenge upon sitting down for this interview: Ask a group of Jews to name great Jewish soccer players.

“They’ll laugh at you,” says the British writer and lifelong Manchester United fan. “Even if they’re huge football fans with a deep knowledge of modern Jewish history, they think football is not a Jewish forte.”

There may be a complete dearth of Jewish players in the 2026 World Cup, which is being held in North America through July 19, but that was not always the case, says Bolchover, 59.

In his new book, “Digging Deep,” Bolchover sets the record straight on the many Jews who contributed to the so-called beautiful game before they were murdered in the Holocaust.

The book follows Bolchover’s “The Greatest Comeback,” in which he told the remarkable story of Béla Guttmann, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who started his career on the pitch before the war and later became a hugely successful coach and manager. The critically acclaimed 2017 title was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and translated into several languages.

Now, Bolchover is razor-focused on resurrecting the memory of 11 Jewish soccer professionals who have long been forgotten. Determined to pay tribute to the group he describes as his “team,” he brings their heartbreaking stories to life in his new, meticulously researched book.

The Times of Israel spoke with Bolchover in a video call from his home in north London. He discussed what inspired him to embark on this dark detective journey, what he uncovered along the way, whether he can envisage a revival of Jewish soccer — and who he thinks will emerge victorious in the World Cup.

The Times of Israel: What led to your discovery of this forgotten world of Jewish football?

David Bolchover: I had always believed, like many Jews, that Jews were not great football players or coaches. That was until I read an article, years ago, about Béla Guttmann, who was a great Jewish football coach. He won the European Cup as a coach in 1961 and in 1962 with his team Benfica.

Everything I went on to read about him glossed over his Holocaust years and said that he went to neutral Switzerland, and that’s how he survived. I wrote to the Swiss authorities, and they said, “There was nobody called Béla Guttmann who came to our country.” I subsequently discovered he was actually a Holocaust survivor — that he’d escaped from a slave labor camp, that he was in hiding, that his family was murdered. I thought, “This is a great story and I’m going to write about it.” Europe wanted to murder him and murdered his father and sister. And then, a few years later, he won the premier sporting competition in Europe.

When I was writing that book, I discovered a whole world of Jewish football coaches and great Jewish footballers that had been buried with the ashes of European Jewry.

I get the impression that Holocaust memorialization focuses on survivors. I think the reason is twofold. Firstly, because the dead can’t speak, it’s easier to research survivors. The second reason is, I think, because people find the story of survivors more comforting. They offer more hope, particularly when survivors like Béla Guttmann were saved by non-Jews.

But I think while we recognize the heroism, we’ve got to be brutally honest about its rarity. Béla Guttmann’s story was about the exception — the exception of survival, the exception of a non-Jewish hero. This book is about the rule.

How did you choose which athletes to write about?

To qualify for my team, you must have represented a country in international football. I selected 11 men based on their respective footballing greatness and how much their stories grabbed me. I also wanted a balanced team (goalkeeper, defenders, midfielders, forwards) and a blend of different types of Jews. Some were religious, one had converted to Christianity, another had converted their children to Christianity, one was a socialist, one was a Zionist, several fought for........

© The Times of Israel