Jakarta Globe - AFP, Jul 18, 2014
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo takes a free kick during the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at Luz stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. (EPA Photo/Tiago Petinga) |
Nyon,
Switzerland. European football’s governing body UEFA announced on Thursday that
no Champions League or Europa League matches could be played in Israel until
further notice “for security reasons”.
“The UEFA
Emergency Panel met on 16 July and decided that, due to the current security
situation in Israel, no UEFA competition matches may be played in the country
until further notice,” read a statement issued by UEFA.
“Consequently,
the Israeli clubs involved in forthcoming fixtures have been requested to
propose alternative venues outside of Israel’s territory for their home legs in
the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.”
The
decision, announced on the eve of Friday’s third qualifying round draw for both
competitions, affects the looming fixtures of a total of four Israeli clubs.
In the
Champions League, Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Andorrans Santa Coloma 1-0 away in
their first leg, second qualifying round tie on Tuesday.
They were
to host Santa Coloma for the July 22 second leg in Israel, when they aim to
take their European campaign to the next level.
The fixture
has been shifted to Larnaca in Cyprus.
In the
Europa League, Hapoel Kiryat Shimona have a direct berth in the third qualifying
round, and so will also need to rethink their fixture.
Two fellow
Europa League hopefuls, Hapoel Beer Sheva and Hapoel Tel Aviv, have also
shifted their July 24 home matches to Larnaca.
Hapoel Beer
Sheva will take on Croatian club Split there, after their away game on Thursday
in the Balkan nation.
The stakes
will be high for Hapoel Tel Aviv’s game in Larnaca, as they lost 3-0 away to
Kazakh club Astana on Thursday.
The UEFA
decision came amid the deadliest wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians
since 2012.
Fighting
since Israel launched Operation Protective Shield on July 8 to stamp out rocket
fire by militants in the Gaza Strip has killed more than 230 Palestinians and
wounded at least 1,770, with many of the dead and injured women and children.
One Israeli
has died in a rocket attack and several have been seriously wounded.
Israel has
carried out more than 1,750 attacks in Gaza, mostly air strikes, the army says,
and militants have fired nearly 1,400 rockets, 1,048 of which have hit the
Jewish state.
Israel said
Thursday it had agreed on a truce with Palestinian militants Hamas to end 10
days of violence in Gaza, although the reported deal was denied by the Islamist
movement.
News of a
fresh attempt to end the worst bloodshed in the Gaza Strip in five years came
during a five–hour humanitarian truce, under which both Israel and Hamas
militants had agreed to hold their fire.
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