How the Gaza war overshadowed the beautiful game as Tel Aviv fans banned from Aston Villa match

In partnership with

The Independent

·6 de noviembre de 2025

How the Gaza war overshadowed the beautiful game as Tel Aviv fans banned from Aston Villa match

After weeks of political controversy, Aston Villa will take on Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C in Birmingham Thursday evening without the latter team’s fans allowed to attend.

Supporters were banned from the 6 November Europa League game after Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group (SAG) raised concerns about fan safety, sparking a political controversy that threatens to overshadow the match.

OneFootball Videos

Critics have claimed the decision is antisemitic and punishes law-abiding fans for the actions of a minority. The UK government pledged - unsuccessfully - to try and overturn the ruling while the Board of Deputies of British Jews president Phil Rosenberg warned the “ridiculous” ban risked “giving the impression there are ‘no-go’ zones in this country”.

The war in Gaza is ultimately at the heart of the heightened tensions, after a Maccabi game in Amsterdam last year saw reports of ‘Jew hunting’, anti-Arab chants and Palestinian flags torn down as trouble spilled onto the streets.

open image in gallery

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans attended their Europa League fixture against PAOK in Greece in September (REUTERS)

Campaigners against racism in football say that previous incidents involving some Maccabi fans should be a ‘wake up call’, and recent figures suggest there is a growing problem.

Research conducted by the non-profit Kick It Out Israel, looking across the Israeli premier league in the 2024-25 season, uncovered a 64% increase in racist incidents from the previous season. This was seen among supporters of 13 of 14 clubs in the league.

There were a total of 367 incidents of racist chanting across all teams, including 118 incidents from fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, up from 75 in the 2023/24 season. The most common chant recorded was “Let the IDF win, F*** the Arabs”, referring to the Israel Defence Forces, the country’s military.

The director of Kick It Out Israel said the 2024-25 season would “be remembered not for the football itself, but for a series of troubling events that should concern every citizen in Israel”, the Guardian reports. There was a “lack of enforcement against racism, violence and homophobia” in the game, Matan Segal added.

open image in gallery

Police escort Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters to the metro after pro-Palestinian supporters marched near the soccer stadium in Amsterdam last year (AP)

Nicholas McGeehan, founding co-director of FairSquare, a non-profit focusing on human rights abuses and sport, believes right wing policies in Israel are “seeping into and influencing” football, referencing both the war in Gaza and “the system of apartheid that is increasingly entrenched in Israel”.

“It seems obvious that the actions of the state would inevitably influence the way that football is run,” he told The Independent. “There is a serious problem with systematic racism in Israeli football, and the Israeli Football Association is not taking any steps to effectively counter that.”

Mr McGeehan claimed discrimination was “endemic and serious” at Israeli clubs like Maccabi Tel Aviv, and called on the IFA to enact clearer policies aimed at tackling racism, amounting to sanctions and stadium closures.

“There's a requirement of the football governance to sort of step in when the violation of the statutes is so clear,” he said, suggesting Kick It Out Israel’s report should be a “wake up call” for UEFA.

open image in gallery

Smoke from flares covers the pitch before the Tel Aviv derby was called off in October (AP)

“Amsterdam should have been the point at which UEFA stepped in, investigated and, I think, suspended the Israel Football Association from competition,” he continued. “Had that happened, we wouldn't have had this sort of political controversy in the UK about the Maccabi fans.”

Lisa Nandy, the UK’s culture secretary, said there was a “minority” of fans whose behaviour is “reprehensible” but said “that is not true of all fans”. “What is astonishing in this case is that it is unprecedented in modern times for all away fans to be banned because of the behaviour of a small minority,” she added.

It is not the first time this season that away fans have been banned from attending games in Europe.

Last month, Eintracht Frankfurt said UEFA rejected an appeal to move its Champions League game at Napoli to a neutral venue after its fans were banned from attending. The match went ahead on Tuesday without any supporters from the German club.

Italian authorities issued an order to Napoli in September denying the German club the usual ticket allocation for visiting teams due to the risk of violence between both sets of supporters.

In 2014, three Maccabi fans were arrested in early morning raids for verbally assaulting Mahran Radi, an Arab Israeli midfielder
Maccabi fans were accused of punching and pepper spraying five Aek Larnaca fans after a Conference League match in Israel in 2023
During a Conference League match against Olympiakos last summer, Greek media reported that Israeli fans had attacked a man carrying a Palestinian flag, after he reportedly shouted anti-Israel slogans
Ahead of last year’s game against Ajax in Amsterdam, Tel Aviv fans clashed with pro-Palestinian supporters. Sixty people were detained after clashes broke out, with reports of issues with fans on both sides
Maccabi fans set a Palestinian flag on fire and tore others down. Chants of “Why is there no school in Gaza? There are no children left there” were heard
Amsterdam’s mayor also said there were antisemitic attacks on Jewish visitors to the city, telling reporters that men on scooters had carried out “hit and runs” on Maccabi supporters
Five people were later sentenced over the violence, with the Dutch court saying there was “no justification for calling for and using physical violence against Israeli supporters”
More recently, a derby match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv was cancelled after smoke grenades and flares were thrown from the terraces at the shared stadium before kickoff.
Twelve civilians and three police officers were injured. Police arrested nine people and said the decision to cancel was due to the perceived “endangerment of human life”
Other Israeli clubs have their problems too. Beitar Jerusalem had its office torched when the club signed two Muslim players from Chechnya in 2013. Players required police protection due to abuse from fans
Last year, a match had to be abandoned after Hapoel Be'er Sheva supporters attacked Bnei Sakhnin fans, historically supported by Israeli Arabs, after they turned their backs when the Israeli anthem played

open image in gallery

Israel is far from the only country to face such problems in football. Racism in the UK game has seen a record high, with Kick It Out receiving 1,398 reports of discrimination in the 2024/25 season, more than double the number from four seasons ago.

Criticising SAG’s decision to ban its fans, and declining any allocation for away fans, Maccabi FC’s response said an “extreme” minority had caused trouble and it was working to address that.

“Our fans regularly travel all over Europe without incident and to suggest that the reason our fans cannot be allowed to travel is due to their behaviour is an attempt to distort reality and to excuse the real underlying reasons for the decision to ban our fans,” the club said in a statement last month. “Our fans, the Jewish community know all too well this tactic and all are too familiar with where it can lead.

“Our first team squad consists of Muslims, Christian and Jewish players and our fan base also crosses the ethnic and religious divide.

“We have also been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements of our fan base. Unfortunately, those issues are not restricted to Israeli football, and they are problems the sport has been grappling worldwide including in the UK.”

open image in gallery

Maccabi’s chief executive Jack Angelides told Sky News the day before the Aston Villa game that they “had not been given a clear reason” for the ban.

“There are elements in the club that are not in line with our values, our morals, and we do expend a lot of energy and have been for many, many years in trying to… eradicate that,” he said.

“But to malign thousands and thousands of good fans with the actions of a few, it's a dangerous game because I think that's something that is not conducive to toning down the incitement that's actually going on now. It's manipulation to my mind.”

What do football authorities say?

Despite the rise in racist incidents, the Israel Football Association initiated only 12 disciplinary proceedings for fan racism in the 2024/2025 season. None were launched against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, despite recording the most incidents of all clubs.

In response to the controversy over the fan ban, the IFA has stressed that racism is an issue across the game, regardless of country. The IFA said it addressed such issues through education, information campaigns and disciplinary punishment.

open image in gallery

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the ban was “the wrong decision” (PA Wire)

“Racist comments are part of almost every league and a problem that world and European football is dealing with,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

“Racist comments from fans have no place on football fields and in general. In the face of manifestations of antisemitism and racist comments against Israel and Jews, we insist on proving that it is possible otherwise.

“It would be better if those who accuse Israeli football of racism looked at themselves first.”