Football: Algeria league suspended, no Belgium-Sweden replay
October 19, 2023
In a statement on the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) website, the FAF said it had "decided to suspend all football competitions and matches" to express "solidarity" with the Palestinian people.
The 16-team league is currently four games into its domestic season but was suspended "until further notice" on October 18.
"Expressing solidarity with the resilient, brotherly Palestinian people and out of respect for the memories of the venerable and glorious martyrs who fell victim to the savage Zionist aggressions in the Gaza Strip against the occupied Palestinian population, the FAF has decided to suspend all competitions and matches until further notice," the federation said in a strongly worded statement.
According to the Gaza health ministry, 3,785 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes launched in retaliation for a terrorist attack launched by Hamas militants against Israel on October 7, which resulted in over 1,400 mainly civilian Israeli deaths.
On October 15, the FAF also agreed to host all matches in the Palestinian team's 2026 World Cup qualification campaign and assume all associated costs, such as travel and accommodation, starting with the visit of Australia on November 21.
However, the move is subject to approval from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which has not been granted, according to the BBC World Service. The AFC has been reportedly unable to guarantee player welfare or the state of facilities in a country that belongs to a different continental federation, namely the African Football Confederation (CAF).
The Palestinian team's first game is away to Lebanon, scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on November 16 — although the BBC report that this is also uncertain due to potential visa issues for Lebanese players.
Many Algerian players have shown solidarity with the Palestinian people, with star player and former Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez calling for peace in a post on social media.
Next year, the Palestinian team is also participating in the Asia Cup hosted by Qatar, where they will face the UAE, Iran and Hong Kong.
The team has not played a game in their home stadium in Al-Ram in four years. The last time was in October 2019, when they drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
UEFA: no matches in Israel; no Belgium vs. Sweden replay
Elsewhere, UEFA, European football's governing body, has announced that no matches will be played in Israel until further notice.
UEFA said it had conducted a "thorough evaluation of the current safety and security situation in the whole territory of Israel" before the decision was made by its Executive Committee. The ruling will impact Israeli teams Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv, who are competing in the Europa League and Europa Conference League, respectively.
Despite being a founding member of the AFC in 1954, Israel was expelled in 1974 after several Muslim and Arab countries had refused to play them. After two decades in exile, Israel became a full UEFA member in 1994.
UEFA has also confirmed that the Euro 2024 qualifier between Belgium and Sweden, which was halted due to the fatal shooting of two Swedish fans in Brussels on Monday, will not be resumed or replayed.
"Both the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, given the circumstances, explicitly expressed their desire not to play the remaining match time and to consider the result at the halftime interval (1-1) as final," read a statement, with both teams being awarded one point in Group F.
The decision was made less complicated than it might have been given that Belgium has already qualified for Euro 2024, while Sweden is already out.
jh/mf (AFP, dpa)