{"id":311378,"date":"2026-02-26T14:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/311378\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T14:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:16:11","slug":"irish-soccer-chief-says-country-has-no-choice-but-to-play-matches-against-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/311378\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish soccer chief says country has ‘no choice’ but to play matches against Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republic of Ireland has \u201cno choice\u201d but to fulfill its Nations League fixtures with Israel, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said after confirming the soccer games<\/a> would go ahead as scheduled.<\/p>\n

The FAI has been under pressure to boycott the two matches, including a home fixture in Dublin on October 4, with several pro-Palestinian Irish politicians and soccer figures urging the federation to withdraw from the fixtures over Israel\u2019s conduct during the war in Gaza and the humanitarian situation in the conflict-ravaged territory.<\/p>\n

Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian sentiment in Ireland is highly visible, with regular mass protests and cross-party political support for Gaza.<\/p>\n

The Irish federation passed a motion<\/a> last November requesting that UEFA immediately suspend Israel from international competition, citing breaches of the European soccer governing body\u2019s statutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our federation and our members have made our position clear in terms of Israel\u2019s involvement in international football, that has not been taken on board by UEFA,\u201d FAI chief executive David Courell told public broadcaster RTE on Wednesday. \u201cIn this situation, difficult as it is, the decision presented to us only has one viable option \u2014 which is to fulfill these games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

Courell added: \u201cWe, in reality, do not have a choice for a variety of reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tAnti-Israel protesters demonstrate outside Villa Park in Birmingham on November 6, 2025 ahead of the UEFA Europa League league-stage football match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. (HENRY NICHOLLS \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

Addressing calls to move the home game outside Ireland on security grounds amid fears protesters could disrupt the match, Courell said the game will take place in Dublin on October 4.<\/p>\n

Any switch to a neutral venue must be \u201con the basis of a formal instruction of safety and security risk. That is not the case,\u201d said Courell.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Irish police] have been very clear that they are confident in their ability to deliver a safe and secure environment to facilitate the game to go ahead here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Israel Football Association has said it hopes to host the Republic of Ireland in Tel Aviv for a September 27 tie, but a venue is yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tIs accurate Israel coverage important to you?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If so, we have a request.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every day during the past two years of war and rising global anti-Zionism and antisemitism, our journalists kept you abreast of the most important developments that merit your attention. Millions of people rely on ToI for fact-based coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We care about Israel – and we know you do too. So we have an ask for this new year of 2026: express your values by joining The Times of Israel Community, an exclusive group for readers like you who appreciate and financially support our work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tI’m with you and will give\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting valuable, in a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically since October 7.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic of Ireland has \u201cno choice\u201d but to fulfill its Nations League fixtures with Israel, the Football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-311378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}