Heimir Hallgrimsson urges Uefa to keep Ireland and Israel apart after controversial Nations League clashes

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Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson has urged Uefa to keep his team and Israel apart in future competitions following a pair of contentious Nations League encounters.

The sides played out a 1-1 draw in Ireland’s designated home fixture in Backa Topola, Serbia, on Sunday, a week after Ireland secured a 3-0 victory in Israel’s assigned home match in Debrecen, Hungary.

The build-up to both fixtures was heavily fraught, with the Irish squad coming under pressure to refuse to play over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Tensions escalated after Irish players wore black armbands and lowered their heads during the Israeli national anthem ahead of the first match. They repeated the gesture in the second game, during which Israeli players wore black armbands to remember the victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks.

Speaking to Irish national broadcaster RTÉ following the match, Hallgrímsson stated that European football’s governing body should keep the nations separated in future draws.

“There is obviously a big support for Palestine in Ireland. There are not many countries that support Palestine as much as Ireland does,” Hallgrímsson said. “I wouldn’t wish any national team to go through what we have gone through these two weeks, so maybe Uefa just needs to step in and do something.”

Calls within Ireland to boycott the matches against Israel began as soon as the Nations League draw paired the teams together in February. Hosting Israel in Dublin would likely have sparked widespread protests and created significant security challenges for local police.

Despite submitting a motion the previous November requesting Uefa to ban Israel from club and international competitions, the FAI resisted demands for a boycott, pointing out that the team could face severe sanctions from Uefa. Ireland is scheduled to co-host the 2028 European Championship alongside England, Wales and Scotland.

In June, the FAI announced it was relocating Ireland’s home game to Serbia for “operational reasons”, adding that no supporters would be permitted to attend.

Israel was already hosting its home fixtures in Hungary as a consequence of the war.

Strained relations between the two countries showed no sign of improvement on the pitch. Tempers flared at times during Sunday’s game, culminating in a clash prior to half-time when Ireland fitness coach Damien Doyle reported being spat at by an Israeli player.

“There’s been a lot of those incidents that could have escalated,” Hallgrímsson said. “We were clever enough to stop it before it went too far. I felt it was kind of the intention to try to intimidate us and make us do something stupid.”

During a pre-match press conference the previous day, an Israeli journalist alleged that Irish players had directed the word “monkeys” at Israeli opponents during the first match. This drew a swift rejection from Irish communications officer Kieran Crowley, who declared the allegation “a lie” before bringing the conference to an immediate end.

Meanwhile, Ireland forward Adam Idah, who is Black, was allegedly subjected to racial abuse by a small section of Israeli fans during the initial fixture.