UEFA Have Set Precedent for Maccabi Tel-Aviv Ban Ahead of Israel Decision
UEFA will meet next week to decide whether to ban Israel from their competitions - and there is already a potential precedent in place.
According to The Times, 'most members' of UEFA's executive committee are in favour of banning Israel from international and domestic competitions due to the ongoing war in Gaza.
A United Nations commission of inquiry found earlier this month that Israel is committing genocide in the region, with over 65,000 people killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war in October 2023.
Gaza also now meets all three UN thresholds for famine.
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Calls have grown in recent weeks to ban Israel from international football, which would prevent them from qualifying for next year's World Cup.
The tournament will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico - but the administration of US President Donald Trump has stated that it will 'absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel's national soccer team from the World Cup'.
In terms of domestic competitions, Maccabi Tel-Aviv are Israel's only representative in European competition this season.
They are competing in the Europa League, and are scheduled to travel to England on November 6 to take on Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The UK government formerly recognised Palestine as a state earlier this week and stated in a press release that they have acted 'to protect the prospect of a two-state solution as the appalling situation in Gaza worsens, Israel continues its illegal settlement expansions in the West Bank and Hamas continues to hold the hostages'.
Should UEFA ban Israel, and therefore Maccabi Tel-Aviv, from European competition, they did set a precedent back in 2022.
After they suspended Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine, Spartak Moscow were suspended from playing in the Europa League.
They were due to face RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the competition, but the German club were given a walkover to the quarter-final.
The current situation is, of course, a different scenario, with the Europa League only at the group stage rather than the knockouts.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv have only played one game in this year's competition, drawing 0-0 with Greek side PAOK on Wednesday.
It is unclear how UEFA would act in such a scenario this time around, given that the group stage is already underway.
Two potential options would be to either award PAOK - and therefore all of their other seven opponents - an automatic victory, though the other teams in the competitions would not be afforded that luxury.
And the other would be to have each team play a game less to compensate for the lost fixtures - though that would leave UEFA in a difficult position in regards to PAOK's points tally.
Topics: UEFA, Europa League, FIFA
Ryan Smart