Irish sports organizations have previously taken anti-Israel positions in sporting events.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Ireland’s Football Association has asked FIFA to move its upcoming UEFA Nations League match against Israel from Dublin to a neutral venue and to stage the game without spectators, according to a BBC report.

The match is scheduled for Oct. 4 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin as part of the Nations League competition between the Israeli and Irish national teams.

According to the report, Ireland’s request is based on concerns related to hosting the Israeli team and seeks approval to relocate the fixture to a neutral country.

The Irish association is reportedly preparing a significant effort to secure FIFA’s approval and plans to cite a previous Nations League case involving Belgium, when UEFA accepted Belgium’s argument that it could not guarantee the security of the Israeli national team.

Israel’s national team, coached by Ran Ben Shimon, is expected to continue playing home matches outside Israel because of the security situation in the country.

That arrangement includes its first Nations League meeting with Ireland.

The BBC report said a campaign known as “Stop the Game” was launched last month during a friendly match between Ireland and Qatar.

The initiative is reportedly aimed at supporting the effort to relocate the match.

Veteran Irish defender Seamus Coleman expressed support for the move.

“The situation can only heat up in the coming months, and it would be appropriate to relieve us of this burden,” Coleman said.

The Football Association of Ireland also commented on the matter, saying it believes FIFA will approve the request.

“FIFA’s regulations are clear to us, and we believe they will grant our request. We do not want to reach a situation where the match is canceled and disciplinary measures are taken against us,” the association told local media.

Irish sports organizations have previously taken anti-Israel positions in sporting events.

Among the examples cited was an incident during a women’s European Championship qualifying basketball game between Ireland and Israel in which the Israeli national anthem was not respected.

The post Irish football association requests neutral venue for Israel match appeared first on World Israel News.

Norwegian player Mathias Normann joined the campaign to boycott the Jewish state, after ending an engagement to an Israeli model.

By World Israel News Staff

Anti-Israel protesters picketed a UEFA event in London on Wednesday evening, demanding that the international soccer body ban Israel from competing in its tournaments.

Around 60 demonstrators gathered outside UEFA’s official launch event for the 2028 European Championship, waving Palestinian flags and shouting that those associated with UEFA had “blood on their hands.”

According to a report from the Daily Mail, protesters held signs reading “You are complicit,” “Show Israel the red card,” and “Offside for genocide.”

During the ceremony, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin ignored the commotion outside of the venue.

“Football is the universal language. It expresses passion, skill, courage, solidarity, and respect better than any other, and it constantly reminds us that our differences are exactly what make our sport so beautiful,” Čeferin said. “At Euro 2028, we will all speak football – loud, clear, and united.”

Earlier that day, a group called Game Over Israel, which campaigns to ban Israel from international sporting and entertainment events, sent an open letter to UEFA urging a boycott.

“No shared venue, stage, or arena in international civil society should welcome a regime that commits genocide, apartheid, and other crimes against humanity,” the letter read.

“Israel’s continued impunity for such crimes will only be ended by the weight of collective conscientious action, including measures to block their entry to sporting or cultural events and activities.”

The letter was signed by several professional footballers, including French World Cup winner Paul Pogba, Moroccan player Hakim Ziyech, Spanish winger Adama Traoré, and Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi.

Another signee, Norwegian player Mathias Normann, ended an engagement with Israeli model Eden Fines in 2024, and has since posted virulently anti-Israel content on social media.

In recent months, the Football Association of Ireland and the Turkish Football Federation have both called for Israel to be banned from international soccer tournaments.

The post ‘Complicit in genocide’ – Anti-Israel activists disrupt soccer event appeared first on World Israel News.

A September 11 football match in Belfast may not take place if anti-Israel organizations have their way, though chances are slim that they will succeed.

By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Supporters of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, such as the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, are putting pressure on the Irish Football Association (IFA) to cancel the “friendly” between Northern Ireland and Israel as a way to “take a stand for justice.”

Their rhetoric includes allegations that Israel is an apartheid state that “violently oppresses” Palestinians.

Sources that contacted WIN doubted the BDS activists would succeed. They said that unlike the Republic of Ireland, where there is a strong pro-Palestinian lobby, there was little chance the team of Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, has a large Protestant population and a strong pro-Israel lobby, would cave in to BDS.

Another group, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), claimed that the amputees on a disabled Gazan football team had lost their limbs during “peaceful protests against Israel on the Gaza border.”

The months-long violent clashes at the border, however, were well-documented in the media, with many showing demonstrators trying to rush the border in order to destroy the security apparatus and/or kill Israeli soldiers and civilians.

The anti-Israel groups asked the IFA to follow in the footsteps of the Argentinean national team, which abruptly called off a pre-World Cup exhibition match that was supposed to have been played in Israel, caving to pressure and threats.

The players confirmed that this was the reason for their pull-out, with striker Gonzalo Higuain saying in June, “Good health and common sense come first and we think the right thing was not to go.”

The IFA, the football league for Northern Ireland, has already rejected calls by Irish party Sinn Fein in June to cancel the match. At the time, Irish lawmakers heavily criticized the party for dragging politics into sports.

The post BDS pressures Northern Ireland to cancel soccer match with Israel on 9/11 appeared first on World Israel News.