The Israeli Football Association on Monday attacked Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson, accusing him of ‘stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy’ after he said his team would play ‘against genocide’ in the two sides’ upcoming Nations League fixtures. Media reports said the association was considering filing an official complaint against him with UEFA.
Hallgrímsson made the remarks while announcing Ireland’s squad for the international break, in response to a question about whether the players could remain focused amid the controversy surrounding the two fixtures against Israel. The manager said his team was ‘not playing with genocide, but against it’, explaining that Ireland would face Israel on the pitch and did not stand alongside it.
Israeli FA responds to Hallgrímsson’s remarks
The Israeli FA responded in a statement posted on its official account on X, using the same phrase uttered by the manager. The statement said that ‘a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy’ had yet to be found, before attributing those qualities to Hallgrímsson and saying Israel would play against a manager who ‘embodies them’.
The Irish Times reported that the Israeli FA was considering filing a complaint with UEFA after Hallgrímsson used the term ‘genocide’ to describe Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has left tens of thousands dead and injured. Ireland and Israel are preparing to play two matches in the first phase of the Nations League.
Dates and neutral venues for the Ireland-Israel fixtures
The first fixture will take place on 27 September in the Hungarian city of Debrecen, while the Serbian city of Bačka Topola will host the return match on 4 October, after a decision was made to stage both fixtures at neutral venues outside Ireland and Israel. The teams are in Group C of League B, alongside Austria and Kosovo.
In June, the Football Association of Ireland decided to move its home match against Israel from Dublin to an overseas venue, where it would be played behind closed doors, citing ‘operational challenges’ that could hinder its organisation in Ireland. The FAI said at the time that the decision had been taken after consultations with the relevant authorities and with UEFA’s approval.
Relocating the match and the debate over playing Israel
The arrangements come amid an ongoing debate within Irish football over playing matches against Israel and its continued participation in international competitions. Hallgrímsson said he had spoken individually with the players he called up to Ireland’s squad about the two fixtures. He said opinions and levels of opposition varied from player to player, but acknowledged that ‘none of us feels comfortable’ playing the two matches.
The manager added that, after the decision to stage the two fixtures had been confirmed, the squad members agreed to remain united and represent Ireland as well as possible on the pitch, despite differing positions and the controversy surrounding the match against Israel. The FAI had previously adopted a position calling for Israel’s participation to be suspended.
Irish vote to suspend Israeli FA membership
Nevertheless, the FAI later confirmed that it would play the scheduled matches against Israel, explaining that UEFA competition regulations deem a team refusing to play to have lost the match, with additional sanctions potentially including expulsion from the competition.
The association said withdrawal could have wide-ranging effects on Irish football, and therefore chose to honour the fixture schedule while continuing to call for the Israeli FA’s participation in European competitions to be suspended. The FAI also tried to avoid facing Israel in future draws, but UEFA said requests to keep national teams apart were considered separately according to the circumstances of each case.
UEFA took the view that the absence of a direct dispute between Ireland and Israel did not, under its current criteria, provide grounds for separating the teams in the draw. This is not the first time Hallgrímsson has criticised Israel’s continued participation in international competitions.
He reiterated a previous position in which he questioned why Russia had been suspended from FIFA and UEFA competitions after invading Ukraine in 2022, while the two bodies had not taken similar action against Israel over the war in Gaza.
