UEFA has decided to delay all matches that were originally planned to occur in Israel over the next two weeks.
This development is hugely expected as it comes in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict, a warring situation that has resulted in a devastating loss of life of at least 700 casualties—a level of tragedy not seen in decades—that have been recorded.
One of the affected matches was the Euro 2024 qualifying Group I game between Israel and Switzerland, originally scheduled for Thursday at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium, but this match will no longer take place as planned.
The organizing body, UEFA, stated this in a statement:
“In light of the current security situation in Israel, UEFA has decided to postpone all matches scheduled in Israel in the next couple of weeks, with new dates to be confirmed in due course.
“Uefa will continue to closely monitor the situation and will remain in contact with all teams involved before making decisions on new dates and on potential changes to other upcoming fixtures.
“Uefa will take the coming days to assess whether Israel can take part in their Euro 2024 qualifier against Kosovo in Prishtina.”
Additionally, Israel’s European Under-21 Championship qualifiers against Estonia and Germany, set for October 12 and 17, respectively, have also been postponed.
Furthermore, UEFA has put a stop to an under-17 mini-tournament that involved Israel, Belgium, Gibraltar, and Wales. This tournament was supposed to run from Wednesday until October 17 but has now been postponed.
However, Israel’s match against Kosovo on Saturday will be evaluated to see if it’s feasible or not in the coming days.