IFA Bans Beitar Jerusalem from playing in EUEFA for one year
The Israel Football Association (IFA) came down hard on one of the country’s most popular teams, Beitar Jerusalem FC, banning it for one year from EUEFA’s (European Football Association) professional competitions.
The ban was imposed as a punishment for the actions of the team’s fans when it won Israel’s State Cup on May 23. Their fans stormed the field in celebration in violation of league rules.
Fans also set fires, and because of the threat to his safety, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who was there to present the cup to the game’s winners had to be evacuated.
Maccabi Netanya, who lost the cup match to Beitar Jerusalem, will represent Israel in the UEFA Europa Conference League instead.
Worldwide, professional soccer teams are generally held accountable for poor behaviour on the part of their fans. For example, there have been games in that teams were forced to play in empty stadiums when the league’s punished them for what their fans did.
The Israel association’s decision on the matter stated that the cup final, which should have been a national celebration, instead became “a shameful and humiliating event, the likes of which Israeli football has never known.”
“Even if, according to Beit Hillel custom (this refers to the group in the Talmud known to take a lenient position on matters of Jewish law) we allowed the accused to add and hold the title,” IFA said, “we were unable to find proper reasons to allow her to also enjoy the fruits and economic rights that accompany it, contrary to the statutes”
In response, Beitar Jerusalem issued a statement saying that it, “received with astonishment the punishment imposed on the Beitar Jerusalem football club by the judges of the football association”.
Beitar added that the decision “severely damages the club, the hundreds of thousands of the team’s fans, sports in Israel and the city of Jerusalem, which is expecting and preparing to host a football match in a European setting.”
Saying that it intends to appeal the ruling, Beitar Jerusalem added that it, “won the cup very justly and in a fair and sporting manner and we expect that the judges will be able to overturn the decision and that common sense will prevail, and as soon as possible, so that we can quickly prepare for the goal that is before our eyes, which is participation in the Conference League qualifiers.”
Israel’s professional sports teams compete in the European leagues because Arab nations traditionally blocked the country’s admission to Asian associations. In sports like soccer, the professional teams that win a country’s championship compete the following year in a champions’ league.
