Thursday March 21, at 8:45 p.m., in Budapest, the national teams of Israel and Iceland will meet for a play-off match with a view to qualifying for the final phase of the next European football championship, in Germany (June 14-July 14). The winner of this meeting will face Bosnia-Herzegovina or Ukraine on March 26 for a place at Euro 2024.
Ahead of this match, Iceland coach, Norwegian Age Hareide, spoke about the ongoing conflict between the Jewish state and the Palestinian movement Hamas, mainly concentrated in the Gaza Strip. “Personally, I would hesitate to play against Israel, because of what is happening in Gaza and what they are doing against children, women and people who are innocent”said Mr. Hareide to the Icelandic media Visir.
If Israel is geographically located in the Middle East, its presence in sports competitions of the region posed a problem for obvious geopolitical reasons. In football, the clubs and the national team therefore joined the fold of the Union of European Associations (UEFA) from the 1970s. But the sky blue and white selection has never yet taken part in a football championship. Europe. In this country passionate about football, qualifying for the 2024 edition would be an event that would go far beyond the stadiums.
Hungary, a choice by elimination
“Playing this tournament in Germany 52 years after the Munich attack [lors des Jeux olympiques 1972]after the Hamas terrorist attack [le 7 octobre 2023]during the period of war, when 130 hostages are still held by Hamas, when people are dying, when it is the worst year of our lives here… that would be extraordinary! »testifies Uri Levy, Israeli journalist, founder of the specialized site BabaGol.
In the current context, the Israeli team had to find a fallback solution from November 2023 to host two Euro qualifying matches. Hungary is first of all a choice by elimination, notes Jean-Baptiste Guégan, specialist in the geopolitics of sport: “If these meetings were organized in England or France, the event would be appropriated and politicized: for those in power, for those against power and for the minorities and diasporas who live there. »
There, the Palestinian cause does not bring together as much as in the previously mentioned countries. Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already banned support demonstrations there. The Hungarian government is also close to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government is the most right-wing in the history of the Jewish state.
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