{"id":382381,"date":"2025-08-29T12:07:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/382381\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T12:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:07:18","slug":"clubs-ask-uefa-if-they-can-avoid-facing-israeli-opposition-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/382381\/","title":{"rendered":"Clubs ask Uefa if they can avoid facing Israeli opposition in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerns are increasing among football leaders over the growing pressure around Israeli teams\u2019 participation in European club and national team competitions due to the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

It is believed that a number of European clubs tested the water with Uefa to see if there was any process by which they could request not to be drawn against an Israeli club side in Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Uefa insiders said it had received no official requests from any clubs \u2014 and that its policies would not allow that to happen. Nevertheless, Maccabi Tel Aviv\u2019s qualification for the Europa League could pose significant challenges around security and potential demonstrations.<\/p>\n

\"UEFA<\/p>\n

Elad Madmon, left, helps Maccabi Tel Aviv qualify for the Europa League, where they could face unease from opposing clubs and countries<\/p>\n

EPA\/WOJTEK JARGILO POLAND OUT<\/p>\n

In a separate move, the Italian Football Coaches\u2019 Association has called on Fifa and Uefa to temporarily suspend Israel from international competition due to its actions in Gaza. Others have questioned why Russia should be excluded, but not Israel.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s FA has said it will donate any profits from their World Cup qualifying game against Israel in Oslo on October 11 to humanitarian aid in Gaza. Norway\u2019s players are also understood to feel very strongly about events in Gaza.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lise Klaveness, the Norwegian federation\u2019s president, said: \u201cNeither we nor other organisations can remain indifferent to the humanitarian suffering and disproportionate attacks that the civilian population in Gaza has been subjected to for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extra security is expected to limit capacity in the 26,000-seat Ullevaal Stadium by up to 3,000 tickets.<\/p>\n

Bank holiday boost as 3 million watch Newcastle v Liverpool<\/p>\n

Sky Sports\u2019 viewing figures for the start of the Premier League season have bounced back strongly after a drop last season.<\/p>\n

Viewer numbers are up 17 per cent compared to the first two weeks of the 2024-25 season, with the Monday night match between Newcastle United and Liverpool peaking at 3 million \u2014 making it the most-watched programme on bank holiday Monday across all broadcasters.<\/p>\n

\"English<\/p>\n

Rio Ngumoha made an incredible debut for Liverpool, helping them to a late win against Newcastle<\/p>\n

EPA\/ADAM VAUGHAN EDITORIAL<\/p>\n

The figures have been welcome news for Sky, which has increased its number of live matches from 128 last season to 215 under the first year of its new deal with the Premier League.<\/p>\n

The live Sunday match between Manchester United and Arsenal on the first weekend of the season also contributed to the increase in viewer numbers. Last season, viewer numbers fell by 10 per cent after two previous record-breaking years due, in part, to a lack of a close title race or relegation battle.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Sky Sports has signed a new three-year deal with the NFL for American football matches. More than half of NFL games will now be shown live on Sky.<\/p>\n

Bigger is better for BBC as smaller clubs get the cold shoulder<\/p>\n

There is growing disquiet among some senior figures in football that BBC Sport is appointing correspondents to cover some individual Premier League clubs, but not others.<\/p>\n

The BBC\u2019s focus on the bigger clubs reflects a desire to increase traffic, but there are concerns that the public broadcaster\u2019s policy will mean other clubs will have less coverage. The BBC has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Agency applies the handbrake to car-driver Ferdinand<\/p>\n

Rio Ferdinand has been forced to delete social media posts promoting the Ineos Grenadier car after being ticked off by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).<\/p>\n

The ASA took compliance action after being alerted by the charity researcher Dr Alex May that the posts \u2014 one of which linked to a YouTube video of him driving the vehicle with his former Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney \u2014 did not make clear he was advertising the product.<\/p>\n

Ferdinand\u2019s representative said the ASA has now agreed to close the case.<\/p>\n

Ceferin keen on reducing overseas domestic matches<\/p>\n

Uefa and Fifa may bury their differences in order to try to limit the number of domestic league matches played abroad.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s La Liga is trying to organise a match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami, while the Italian FA has approved a plan for AC Milan to play Como in Perth, Australia.<\/p>\n

The football bodies may not be able to block the matches after a legal case involving Fifa last year, but the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has said he will hold talks with the world governing body in order to restrict the number.<\/p>\n

The Premier League has said there have been no talks about following suit \u2014 most English clubs fear a backlash from fans if they tried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerns are increasing among football leaders over the growing pressure around Israeli teams\u2019 participation in European club and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187],"class_list":{"0":"post-382381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115111974992794479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}