14:02, 20 Oct 2025Updated 18:41, 20 Oct 2025<\/p>\n
![\"Villa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_JS384737353.jpg\")
Villa Park in Birmingham(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n
The decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from a match at Villa Park prompted questioning over policing as Birmingham<\/a> Council approved its World Cup bid.<\/p>\n The Labour<\/a>-run council decided at a special meeting today to move ahead with plans to bid to become a host city for the 2035 Women\u2019s Football World Cup, which is set to be held in the UK.<\/p>\n Birmingham Council<\/a> says hosting the tournament could provide a \u00a3100 million economic boost, as well as jobs, a legacy for sports and another opportunity to showcase the city on a global stage.<\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>\u2018The street is our stage\u2019 – Inside Birmingham\u2019s busking crackdown row<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n But one concern raised during Monday\u2019s meeting was the decision by Birmingham\u2019s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) that Maccabi Tel Aviv should not be permitted to attend next month\u2019s Europa League<\/a> game against Aston Villa.<\/p>\n In a statement issued last week, Villa said West Midlands Police<\/a> had advised the SAG that they have \u201cpublic safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night\u201d.<\/p>\n The decision sparked a huge political row, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer describing it as \u201cwrong\u201d.<\/p>\n Coun Robert Alden, leader of the opposition at Birmingham Council, welcomed the bid but raised a question over policing amid this backdrop.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously there\u2019s been a decision to ban fans from a football club last week,\u201d the Conservative<\/a> councillor said.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking ahead to the future, the police were clear in their statement that they had concerns about their ability to deal with any protests.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know what the geopolitical situation is going to be in 10 years\u2019 time but where is the burden of policing costs if there needs to be a significant increase in policing at that point?<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we can\u2019t end up doing is hosting an international event that we then can\u2019t allow fans to come to.\u201d<\/p>\n The meeting heard from a council officer that policing costs would be \u201cpicked up nationally\u201d.<\/p>\n Issuing a statement on the Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv match last week, West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as \u201chigh risk\u201d based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including \u201cviolent clashes and hate crime offences\u201d between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam in November 2024.<\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>Birmingham’s 3,500 home regeneration scheme for ‘forgotten’ estate set for approval<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Inspiring future generations\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Sharon Thompson, deputy leader of the council, described the possibility of hosting the World Cup as an \u201cincredible opportunity for our city\u201d during the meeting.<\/p>\n \u201c[It would put] us on the global stage alongside other cities across the country and bring in economic growth, skills and jobs, which is much-needed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event would not only be about football but it\u2019s about celebrating women\u2019s sport \u2013 we\u2019re seeing that on the rise more and more every day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about championing equality and inspiring those future generations. We\u2019ve already seen in recent years the incredible momentum behind women\u2019s football and this event would build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Coun Thompson added that hosting costs \u201cin large\u201d would be met by the government, with a contribution from Birmingham City Council<\/a> and West Midlands Combined Authority.<\/p>\n A council report, published ahead of the meeting, said major events help attract regional, national and international visitors, both around the event itself but also in the longer-term.<\/p>\n \u201cThey raise awareness of Birmingham as a potential destination through domestic and international media and digital coverage,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event will see 300,000 ticket holders come to the city over 39 days, 50,000 of these will be from overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n Other benefits identified by the council include:<\/p>\n The report went on to acknowledge that Birmingham will be competing against many other cities and \u201cfirst-class football stadia\u201d to become one of the host cities.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, its proven track record of delivering major sporting events and its fantastic transport links and good infrastructure puts it in a strong position to be one of the final English host cities selected,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Both Aston Villa<\/a> and Birmingham City<\/a> have been involved in the bid.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst we\u2019re proud to be considered as a potential host city, we fully respect that if the UK is successful in its bid to host the tournament, it will be FIFA who decides which host cities are selected,\u201d a council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service last week.<\/p>\n \u201cFor now, we\u2019re focused on showing how ready and enthusiastic we are to play our part in what could be a truly historic event.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City Council says being a host city for the 2035 Women’s World Cup could bring a \u00a3100m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[422,855,984,1205,748,527,393,4884,528,285,16,15,18874,7830],"class_list":{"0":"post-516299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-aston-villa-fc","9":"tag-birmingham","10":"tag-birmingham-city-council","11":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","12":"tag-britain","13":"tag-conservative-party","14":"tag-england","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-labour-party","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-villa-park-stadium","21":"tag-west-midlands-police"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115410710197416794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516299","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=516299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1_JS326815537.jpg\")
Robert Alden, leader of the Conservatives at Birmingham City Council(Image: Nick Wilkinson\/Birmingham Live)<\/p>\n![\"Chloe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_JS375978654.jpg\")
Chloe Kelly (right) during the 2025 Euros(Image: Nick Potts\/PA Wire.)<\/p>\n\n
![\"Chloe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761027560_652_0_JS376393761.jpg\")
Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo during the Euros 2025 final(Image: Andrew Stenning\/Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n