{"id":8396,"date":"2025-09-08T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/8396\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T20:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T20:42:08","slug":"italy-fans-turn-backs-on-israel-anthem-and-hold-protest-signs-in-2026-world-cup-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/8396\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy fans turn backs on Israel anthem and hold protest signs in 2026 World Cup qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>              <a class=\"mg-blog-thumb\" href=\"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/italy-fans-turn-backs-on-israel-anthem-protest\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Italy-fans-Israel-protest.jpeg\" class=\"wp-image-913640 has-webp\" alt=\"Italy fans turn their backs on Israel anthem (@calciomercatoit)\"   fetchpriority=\"high\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1200\/800;max-width:1200px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Italy fans turn their backs on Israel anthem (@calciomercatoit)<\/p>\n<p><\/a>              &#13;<\/p>\n<p>Italy fans once again turned their backs in protest during the Israel national anthem ahead of their 2026 World Cup qualifier in Debrecen.<\/p>\n<p>It kicked off at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/liveblog-israel-italy-2026-world-cup-qualifier\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">You can follow all the action as it happens on the Liveblog.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There is inevitably a degree of tension and controversy around this match, which is played on neutral turf in Hungary due to the on-going security situation.<\/p>\n<p>Israel were wearing black armbands following the terror attack this morning that killed six people who were at a bus stop in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<p>This prompted even stronger security measures in and around the mainly empty stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Italy fans protest during Israel anthem<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Israel-vs.-Italy-logo.jpg\" class=\"lazyload lazyload wp-image-913605 has-webp size-medium\" alt=\"Israel vs. Italy, 2026 World Cup qualifier\"  data- style=\"aspect-ratio:1200\/800;max-width:1200px\"\/>Israel vs. Italy, 2026 World Cup qualifier<\/p>\n<p>A few hundred fans did manage to get into the stands cheering on the two teams, but the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tuttomercatoweb.com\/serie-a\/contestazione-a-debrecen-gli-ultras-italia-danno-le-spalle-al-campo-durante-l-inno-israeliano-2143834\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Italy supporters turned their backs<\/a> during the Israeli national anthem.<\/p>\n<p>This was a repeat of the protest that had also been enacted <a href=\"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/italy-ultras-turn-back-on-israel-anthem\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the last time these two nations played football in September 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There were also some banners in the stands, as the Italy fans had printed out \u2018Stop\u2019 signs.<\/p>\n<p>There had been an <a href=\"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/italian-coaches-association-israel-suspended\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">open letter from the Italian Coaches\u2019 Association<\/a> urging for UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel, the same way they did Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, over the disastrous humanitarian crisis in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>                                &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tPost navigation&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t&#13;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Italy fans turn their backs on Israel anthem (@calciomercatoit) &#13; Italy fans once again turned their backs in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-8396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}