Tel Aviv play Greece’s PAOK to scoreless draw in soccer match overshadowed by protests

Illustrative: Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters gather ahead of a Europa League soccer match between PAOK and Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in the port city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Wednesday, September 24, 2025. (AP/Giannis Papanikos)
Illustrative: Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protesters gather ahead of a Europa League soccer match between PAOK and Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in the port city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece, Wednesday, September 24, 2025. (AP/Giannis Papanikos)

The Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club hold Greek side PAOK to a 0-0 draw in their opening Europa League game amid a heavy police presence and protests in Thessaloniki.

Maccabi had a first-half goal disallowed due to offside as both sides wasted a number of decent chances to score.

PAOK fans booed Maccabi at the start, waved Palestinian flags and unveiled a big banner near the pitch in the first half, which read “Show Israel the Red Card.”

Several protesters were detained ahead of the game, police say.

Two small protests took place in the northern Greek city, calling for Israeli clubs to be expelled from European competition in response to mass casualties in the war in Gaza. Protesters unfurled a banner reading “Genocide” in English from scaffolding on a building complex that also houses the US consulate.

Police say they conducted a large-scale security operation outside the stadium while bomb squad sniffer dogs inspected the site.

Ahead of the match, some 120 Israeli fans were held behind a police cordon while the Maccabi team bus was escorted by a police special forces unit to the 28,000-seat Toumba Stadium.

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