ISRAEL’S footballers are on high alert as they gear up for their Euro 2024 qualifier clash with Kosovo as calls grow to cancel the match.
It would Israel’s first international fixture since its war with Hamas broke out over a month ago and local police are fearful of possible security threats.
Police in Kosovo’s capital of Pristina said that they have been “increasing security measures” so that the game “goes as smoothly as other sport events”.
Dozens of messages criticising Israel’s military campaign in Gaza are circulating across social media under the hashtag #BabyKillersAreNotWelcomedHere.
Kosovo authorities have already tightened security around Sunday’s game by announcing that each of the 14,000 tickets will be personalised.
This means that only fans that present both tickets and their ID cards will be allowed into the Fadil Vokrri stadium.
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The Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) also admitted that they considered holding the game in an empty stadium over security reasons.
“After the meeting with UEFA, the decision was made to play the game with spectators,” Agim Ademi, the chairman of the FFK said.
The official Kosovo national team fan group called Dardanet has urged the crowd to focus on “support of our national team” and pleaded with them not to indulge in offensive chants.
“By respecting the rules, we respect our country,” Dardanet said in a statement.
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The game was originally scheduled to take place on October 15 but was postponed due to the October 7 attacks when Hamas terrorists poured over the border into Israel and slaughtered 1,200 Israelis.
More than 11,000 Palestinians – many of them children – have since been killed across the Gaza Strip in Israel’s retaliatory bombardments and ground offensive, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
After the conflict began, several marches in support of Palestinians in Gaza were organised in Pristina, while Israeli victims were also honoured.
Although a vast majority of Kosovo’s citizens are Muslim, it considers itself the most pro-US state in the world and firmly follows its most important ally’s foreign policy.
In 2016, Kosovo police helped thwart potential simultaneous attacks from the Islamic State terror group on the Israeli football squad that was playing World Cup qualifiers in Kosovo and Albania.
Nineteen people were detained, while eight ended up behind bars for up to 10 years.
Israel are currently third in Euro 2024 qualifying Group I, five points behind leaders Romania, and retain a good chance of making it through to next year’s finals in Germany.
Following the clash in Pristina, Israel will play second-placed Switzerland next Wednesday and Romania on Saturday.
Kosovo are four points further back in fourth.
Meanwhile in the UK, the Met police are bracing themselves for possible confrontations erupting during this weekend’s remembrance commemorations.
The Cenotaph war memorial will be kept under a 24-hour police guard for the first time as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appealed for calm.
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Sunak last night urged everyone to “stand together in quiet reflection” and said the weekend should be about “the selfless bravery of our armed forces”.
The Met have drafted in 1,000 extra officers as they fear extreme right-wing groups are planning to square up to the 100,000 expected pro-Palestine demonstrators in central London.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
