Israel ties Ireland 1:1 as both teams don black armbands for tense UEFA game

Israel ended its second tense game against Ireland in a 1:1 draw in a UEFA Nations League match Sunday evening, with both teams donning symbolic black armbands on the field.

As with last week’s first game, there were no customary handshakes between the teams, at Ireland’s insistence. And the Irish players and coaches all bowed their heads as Israel’s national anthem played in the stadium.

Irish captain Caoimhin Kelleher — stepping in for Dara O’Shea, who was excused to be with his wife for the birth of their child — refused to shake hands with Israel’s Dor Peretz when the referee flipped a coin to decide which team would play in which direction.

Israel’s players wore black armbands to mark the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre — whose Hebrew date fell this year on Saturday. Ireland’s players wore black armbands both on Sunday and during last week’s game “in recognition of all lives lost in the [Gaza] conflict.”

Peretz and the other players had “7/10” written on their armbands. The Israeli Football Association said Sunday that the request to wear black armbands had been approved by European soccer’s governing body UEFA.

The match was played at the TSC Arena in Bačka Topola, Serbia, despite the fact that Ireland was the “home” team, after the game was relocated for “operational reasons” and security concerns amid a widespread call in Ireland to boycott the match. Last week’s match, played in in Debrecen, Hungary, ended with a 3-0 Irish win.

Finn Azaz, whose mother has Israeli heritage, was among the Irish substitutes on Sunday after playing from the start against Austria on Thursday.

All the Irish players had been under pressure from home, where affinity with Palestinians is strong, to boycott the second match against Israel, though they faced the greatest pressure before the first game.

Ultimately, only reserve goalkeeper Gavin Bazuno decided to skip both of the contentious games, saying in a statement that it was his “personal belief that the killing of innocent people is wrong.”

Before the departure for Hungary, there were protesters outside the team hotel in Dublin calling on the players to boycott the matches. The SIPTU trade union displayed a huge poster in central Dublin beside the River Liffey asking the players to “Go with your conscience!” and “Don’t play with genocide” beside an image of a blood-splattered ball.

But the Football Association of Ireland resisted the calls, arguing the team could be hit with punishing sanctions by UEFA. Ireland is co-hosting the 2028 European Championship with England, Wales and Scotland.

On Saturday, Ireland’s press conference in Serbia was cut short as head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson fielded questions from Israeli journalists, including one about an Omani pilot’s attack on a flydubai flight heading for Tel Aviv earlier in the week.

An Israeli journalist also stated during the pre-match press conference that the Irish players had called the Israeli players “monkeys” during last week’s game, leading to an immediate rebuke from Irish communications officer Kieran Crowley, who said it was “a lie” and ended the press conference.

The Icelander sparked a diplomatic row over the games last month by saying: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel.”

The Israeli association accused him of “stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy.”

Sunday’s 1:1 result complicates Ireland’s qualification task as they now lie third in Group 3 of League B behind Austria and Kosovo.

Israel must still play Kosovo and Austria in the UEFA group stage. Those games will take place in November. For now, Israel is bottom of its group, with just two points from four games.