Israel’s soccer friendly at Bosnia-Herzegovina next week is canceled.
UEFA cites the “current security situation” as a reason.
The two men’s teams would have played on Tuesday in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo after both were eliminated on Thursday in qualifying playoffs for the European Championship.
Israel lost to Iceland 4-1 in a “home” game it had to play in a neutral country because of security concerns during the country’s war with Hamas. Israel chose to play in Budapest, Hungary.
The makeup game in Bosnia was part of the UEFA-organized match schedule for national teams and a centralized broadcasting contract the European soccer body’s member federations are obliged to fulfill.
UEFA says in a statement the Bosnian and Israeli soccer federations agreed not to play ”in light of the current security situation” and their elimination from Euro 2024.
Bosnian and Israeli national and club teams have no restrictions on being drawn to play each other in UEFA competitions. UEFA does intervene in draws to stop Bosnian teams from being paired with teams from Kosovo for political and security reasons.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 22, 2024
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
