{"id":99528,"date":"2025-10-20T22:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99528"},"modified":"2025-10-20T22:17:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T22:17:00","slug":"maccabi-tel-aviv-will-not-accept-villa-tickets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99528","title":{"rendered":"Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept Villa tickets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 29 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv say they will not accept any ticket allocation from Aston Villa should the decision to ban their supporters from next month\u2019s Europa League match be overturned.<\/p>\n

Birmingham\u2019s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) \u2013 the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches \u2013 last week\u00a0informed Villa no travelling fans would be permitted\u00a0at the match in the city.<\/p>\n

The decision was widely condemned, with\u00a0Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy\u00a0pledging that the government will \u201cfind the resources\u201d to allow Maccabi fans to attend earlier on Monday.<\/p>\n

But Maccabi Tel Aviv now say supporters will not travel for safety reasons \u2013 that \u201ca toxic atmosphere has been created which makes the safety of our fans wishing to attend very much in doubt\u201d.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0club statement said: \u201cThe wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount, and from hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, West Midlands Police said it had classified the fixture as \u201chigh risk\u201d based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including \u201cviolent clashes and hate crime offences\u201d between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv fans before a match in Amsterdam, in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Nandy said ministers were working together to fund any necessary policing operation to allow away fans to attend, and the SAG would review the decision if West Midlands Police changed its risk assessment.<\/p>\n

Nandy said the matter was wider than matchday security, adding it came \u201cagainst the backdrop of rising antisemitism here and across the world, and an attack on a synagogue in Manchester in which two innocent men were killed\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Israeli Premier League derby between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv was\u00a0cancelled before kick-off,\u00a0after what police described as \u201cpublic disorder and violent riots\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maccabi say the decision to call that game off was not down to their supporters and thanked the UK government for its efforts.<\/p>\n

They said: \u201cWe believe that football should be about bringing people together not driving them apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fans regularly travel all over Europe without incident and to suggest that the reason our fans cannot be allowed to travel is due to their behaviour is an attempt to distort reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe acknowledge the efforts of the UK government and police to ensure both sets of fans can attend the match safely, and are grateful for the messages of support from across the footballing community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aston Villa previously\u00a0told their matchday stewards\u00a0they did not have to work at the Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture, saying they understood some \u201cmay have concerns\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following Thursday\u2019s announcement by the club about the impending fixture, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the move \u201cwrong\u201d and said: \u201cWe will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MaccabiIsraeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv say they will not accept any ticket allocation from Aston Villa should the decision to ban their supporters from next month’s Europa League match be overturned.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10899,137,10900,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aston-villa","category-football","category-maccabi-tel-aviv","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}