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JERUSALEM: Maccabi Tel Aviv will decline any tickets offered to their fans for a Europa League match at away to Aston Villa, the Israeli club announced Monday.
The local Safety Advisory Group (SAG) covering Villa Park in Birmingham, central England, last week blocked visiting fans from attending the November 6 match following a police risk assessment.
That decision drew widespread political criticism, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with widespread calls for the ruling to be reversed.
The British government said Friday it was working to allow Israeli fans to be present.
But a statement on the Maccabi Tel Aviv website said: “The 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.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
The announcement came only a day after Israeli police called off the Israeli Premier League match between Maccabi and city rivals Hapoel because of “riots” between rival fans.
Maccabi insisted their supporters were not involved in the unrest
Maccabi Tel Aviv’s atatement questioned the motivation of those leading calls for a ban on away fans.
“We 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 and society at large,” said the club.
“Our first-team squad consists of Muslims, Christian and Jewish players and our fan base also crosses the ethnic and religious divide. We have also been working tirelessly to stamp out racism within the more extreme elements of our fan base.”
- ‘Toxic atmosphere’ -

The statement added: “It is clear that various entrenched groups seek to malign the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base, most of whom have no truck with racism or hooliganism of any kind, and are exploiting isolated incidents for their own social and political ends.
“As a result of the hate-filled falsehoods, a toxic atmosphere has been created, which makes the safety of our fans wishing to attend very much in doubt.”
Earlier, Britain’s Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy told the House of Commons the final decision must ultimately be made by the police.
However, she also said the country “should be appalled” that the initial assessment was “based in no small part on the risk posed to those fans that are attending who support Maccabi because they are Israeli, and because they are Jewish.”
West Midlands Police last week classified the fixture as “high risk.”
They said the decision was “based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offenses that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam.”
Birmingham has been the scene of pro-Palestinian rallies since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas began.
A number of British left-wing independent and Green politicians backed the ban, with some calling for the wider exclusion of Israeli teams from international competitions due to the government’s actions in Gaza.
Earlier this month, two Jewish men died in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England, that police linked to Islamist extremism.

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan punished poor catching from South Africa to accumulate 259-5 on the opening day of the second and final Test in Rawalpindi on Monday.

Had the tourists not dropped five catches on a turning pitch they would have been in a better position after Pakistan won the toss and batted.

Skipper Shan Masood, dropped on 71 off a luckless Keshav Maharaj, top-scored with 87 while Abdullah Shafique — dropped four times — made 57.

Saud Shakeel and Salman Agha will resume on Tuesday unbeaten on 42 and 10 respectively, with the home team seeking a 2-0 series win against the world Test champions.

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada trapped Mohammad Rizwan with the fifth delivery with the second new ball for 19 to give some respite to his team.

Maharaj, who missed the first Test in Lahore through injury, took 2-63 and fellow spinner Simon Harmer 2-75.

With the bulk of bowling done by Maharaj and Harmer, spinner Senuran Muthusamy — who took 11 wickets in the first Test — was surprisingly used for just four overs.

The final session also saw Masood fall to an uppish sweep off Maharaj, caught by Marco Jansen, after hitting two four and three sixes in his innings.

Earlier, Shafique’s chancy knock finally ended when he edged Harmer to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne after adding an invaluable 111 runs for the second wicket with skipper Masood.

The struggling Babar Azam, again cheered by a home crowd willing him to return to form, was dismissed for just 16 when Tony de Zorzi took a low catch at silly point for Maharaj’s first wicket.

Azam has gone 29 Test innings without a century.

Maharaj himself dropped Shafique on 15 off his own bowling and then saw Aiden Markram drop the same batter on 41 and 53.

Shafique also survived on nine when a Jansen delivery rolled onto the stumps but did not dislodge the bails.

In the morning session South Africa’s only breakthrough came from Harmer, who bowled Imam-ul-Haq for 17 with a sharp turner that beat the bat and hit off-stump.

Rabada was also unlucky when Tristan Stubbs dropped Shafique in the slips off the fourth ball of the match when he was on nought.

Having won the first Test in Lahore by 93 runs, Pakistan included a third spinner in Asif Afridi, dropping fast bowler Hasan Ali.

At 38 years and 299 days, Asif became the second oldest Pakistani Test debutant, behind Miran Bakhsh, who made his debut at 47 years and 284 days against India in 1955.