Should Ireland play Israel in the UEFA Nations League? Examining the arguments for and against the fixture amid growing political and ethical debate.
Ireland drawing Israel in the UEFA Nation’s League has sparked an immense amount of controversy. We as a football page try to stay away from politics, however, politics and Irish football has been intrinsically linked in the time since this draw took place in February. In this piece, we will attempt in a non bias way to explain why the Ireland v Israel match should or should not be played.
The Case For Calling Off Ireland vs Israel
One of the most haunting parts of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023, what many have called a genocide, is that we have seen the distressing images and videos every day through the means of social media. The Israeli narrative is that this is their war of survival, just as the Allies railed through German cities in WWII to defeat the Nazis, Israel must complete a similar mission to defeat their enemy. The counter argument many have put to this narrative is that a primary reason the United Nations created the likes of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was to prevent future atrocities against humanity taking place once again. Some of you may be asking, what does this have to do with a football match? Well, let’s go back to the year 1999.
In 1999, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern after informing UEFA decided to not grant visas to the Yugoslav national team. The government said it was convinced it would not be appropriate for the match to go ahead in view of the “unacceptable situation in Kosovo”. Numerous war crimes were committed on all sides during the Kosovo war, which lasted from 28th of February 1998 until 11th of June 1999. It’s reported that Yugoslav forces killed between 7-9,000 Albanians, engaged in countless acts of rape, destroyed entire villages and displaced nearly 1,000,000 people. As of May 3rd 2026, at least 75,811 people (73,770+ Palestinians and 2,039+ Israelis) have been reported as dead in Gaza according to the Gaza Health Ministry and confirmed by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Politics Global, the Israeli Defence Forces have joined ISIS, Hamas and Boko Haram on the UN Sexual Violence in war zones blacklist. This is without going into the complex ancient and colonial history angle of the conflict, should give you a flavour of why so many Irish fans have such a passionate feeling of vigour about this match not being played.
Why The Fixture Is Likely To Go Ahead
As mentioned previously, it’s important to remain balanced and give both sides of this argument. It seems likely that this game will go ahead in some capacity, which may seem mind blowing after reading those first few paragraphs, however, here is why…
FAI CEO David Courell has said the “implications of six-point punishment is serious enough to play Israel games”. He did add that “UEFA haven’t threatened anything” in relation to Nation’s League games. However, it is likely that Austria and Kosovo may take issue with Israel being handed 6 points. The other angle, assuming Israel gets the 6 points, is the potential damage it could do to Irish football. Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrìmsson says he is “on the record” for believing if Russia are expelled from UEFA competition, Israel should be also, but, forfeiting the matches would be “bad for future Irish teams” and wants his men to do their talking on the pitch. There are potential perks to going down to League C, it did earn Sweden a World Cup qualifying slot after all, which they were successful in and are now in the World Cup Finals, however any potential financial sanctions would be a heavy burden to the FAI.
The Consistency and Hypocrisy Argument
Another angle as to why people feel this match should be played, is an element of hypocrisy and consistency. For instance, Qatar, who the FAI just invited to Dublin for an international friendly, has a woeful humans rights record also. It begs the question, where does the boycott end? Will Ireland be boycotting matches with the USA in the near future? Who have supplied Israel with at least $16.3 billion since the October 7th attack according to Congressional Research Service. Governments ≠ People. Boycotting while seeing admirable and virtuous can be a slippery slope.
In conclusion, I am conscious that the appeasement of everybody is impossible when writing about such complex, sensitive topics. The world is in a deeply difficult place at present. Ireland has always been a shining advocate for peace, self determination and conflict resolution so let’s continue that tradition over the next months which will be testing.