Palestine FA Denies Endorsing Ireland-Israel Nations League Venue Change

“The Palestine FA said on Thursday that it has not issued any statement endorsing, approving or supporting the decision to proceed with the match.” As Ireland prepares to face Israel in a Nations League fixture, diplomatic and sporting tensions have reached a fever pitch.

The match was supposed to happen at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium. Instead, UEFA approved moving it to a neutral venue on 4 October and allowing it to be played behind closed doors. The shift came after sustained pressure from Palestinian rights groups and Irish civil society organisations.

Demonstrations erupted outside the Dail (Irish parliament) over the fixture. Irish Sport for Palestine launched a “Stop the Game” campaign, while a May friendly against Qatar was twice interrupted when tennis balls bearing the Palestine flag landed on the pitch.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) defended playing the match anyway. Their reasoning was straightforward: withdrawal would cost six points and risk demotion to League C in the Nations League. They also cited potential damage to the team’s UEFA and FIFA rankings.

The match exists against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza conflict. A Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 killed around 1,200 people and led to 251 abductions into Gaza. Since then, Israeli operations in Gaza have killed more than 70,600 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, while over 1,000 Palestinians have died in the West Bank.

Ireland and Israel are due to meet on 27 September at a neutral venue for Israel’s Group B3 home match. The Palestine FA, for its part, continues pushing FIFA for accountability over what it says are Israel’s breaches of FIFA rules.