Birmingham City’s safety adviser and British police said fans of the Israeli team should not attend the match due to the “risk to public safety”.
Fans of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv have been banned from attending next month’s Europa League match against Aston Villa in England due to safety concerns, the English club announced.
Birmingham City’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which is responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches at Villa Park, has informed Aston Villa that away fans from Maccabi Tel Aviv will not be allowed in.
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Aston Villa said in a statement on Thursday: “Following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group, the club has been informed that away fans will not be able to attend the UEFA Europa League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday 6 November.”
“Police have advised SAG that there are security concerns outside Stadium Bowl and that they have the capacity to deal with any protests that may occur that night,” the club said.
Aston Villa have confirmed that the club has been informed that away fans will not be able to attend their UEFA Europa League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 16, 2025
West Midlands Police said in a statement that it had classified the match as high risk based on “current information and previous incidents involving violent clashes and hate crime crimes that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.
“Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help reduce the risk to public safety,” police said in a statement.
Last year, dozens of people were arrested and five were jailed after clashes between pro-Palestinian supporters and Maccabi Tel Aviv Israeli fans in Amsterdam.
WMP supports the Safety Advisory Group’s decision regarding the Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv football match.
Click to read statement 👉 https://t.co/NMLkntX08n pic.twitter.com/GgxeYvc7Xm
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) October 16, 2025
Accusations of anti-Semitic attacks quickly circulated after the November 6 and 7 clashes in Amsterdam, but soon reports surfaced that Israeli fans were inciting violence, rampaging through the Dutch capital, assaulting residents, destroying symbols of Palestinian solidarity, and shouting racist and genocidal slogans against Palestinians and Arabs.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and the London-based Jewish Leadership Council have all criticized the ban.
Mr Starmer said in a social media post that the ban was a “wrong decision”.
“The role of the police is to ensure that all football fans can enjoy the match without fear of violence or intimidation,” he said.
This is a wrong decision.
We will not tolerate anti-Semitism on our streets.
The role of the police is to ensure that all football fans can enjoy the match without fear of violence or intimidation. https://t.co/8aBeqE4qbA
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) October 16, 2025
Israeli Foreign Minister Saar described the ban as a “shameful decision” and called on British authorities to “reverse this despicable decision.”
What a shameful decision!
I call on the British authorities to reverse this despicable decision. https://t.co/K5h32VpYa6— Gideon Saar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) October 16, 2025
The Jewish Leadership Council said: “It is wrong to exclude away fans from a football match because West Midlands Police cannot guarantee their safety.”
“Aston Villa should face the consequences of this decision and the match should be played behind closed doors,” the group added in a statement.
The move to ban fans from the match in Birmingham comes amid growing calls for Israel’s soccer team to be banned from international competitions over Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
“We have collected and verified extensive evidence of the systematic instrumentalization of soccer culture in genocide,” Ashish Prashar, campaign director for Game Over Israel, which is pushing for Israel’s expulsion from FIFA and UEFA, told Al Jazeera. “This report synthesizes findings from stadium racism to assaults in Europe to soldiers turning genocide into football propaganda and proves why Israel’s place in world sport is indefensible.”
More than 30 legal experts wrote to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin earlier this month, saying Israel’s ban from competitions was “essential”, citing a UN commission’s report that found Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
The signatories highlighted the damage Israel is inflicting on the sports community and athletes in the Gaza Strip.
“These actions have degraded an entire generation of athletes and eroded the fabric of Palestinian sport,” the experts said.
“The Israel Football Association (IFA)’s failure to challenge these violations implicates it in this regime of repression, which precludes its participation in UEFA competitions,” they said.
It added: “UEFA must not be complicit in sportswashing such flagrant violations of international law, including but not limited to acts of genocide.”
