Soccer Football – Nations League – Group B3 – Republic of Ireland v Israel – TSC Arena, Backa Topola, Serbia – Oct. 4, 2026, Israel’s Omri Gandelman in action with Republic of Ireland’s Jason Molumby. Photo: REUTERS/Zorana Jevtic

The manager of the Republic of Ireland national soccer team said the UEFA should keep his club away from Israel’s soccer team and not have them compete against each other in future matches, following heightened tensions at a Nations League game between the two sides on Sunday that ended in a 1-1 draw.

After Sunday’s heated match, Heimir Hallgrímsson was asked by Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ Sports if the two teams should play against each other in future matches and he replied, “No, they shouldn’t.”

“[But] that’s not ours to decide. It’s UEFA that decides that,” Hallgrímsson added. “There’s obviously a big support for Palestine in Ireland. There’s not many countries that support Palestine as much as Ireland does. I wouldn’t wish any national team to go through what we have gone through these two weeks. So maybe UEFA just needs to step in and do something.”

The Israel-Ireland UEFA Nations League game on Sunday was played behind closed doors at TSC Arena in Backa Topola, Serbia. Ireland’s players again wore black armbands and put their heads down ­during Israel’s national anthem, while the Israeli players wore black armbands in remembrance of the 1,200 people killed in the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The date of the massacre – “7.10” – was printed on the armbands, which the Israel Football Association said the UEFA approved.

Ireland’s goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher replaced Dara O’Shea as captain on Sunday, after the latter was excused from the game to be with his wife who was giving birth. Kelleher refused to do the traditional pre-match handshake with the captain of the opposing team, Dor Peretz, and O’Shea did the same before the first Ireland-Israel Nations League match in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sept. 27, when he refused to shake Manor Solomon’s hand. Ireland won that game 3-0. Solomon did not play in Sunday’s game.

Players and staff members of both teams also had an altercation when they entered the tunnel at half-time, according to RTÉ, and a staff member of the Irish team was alleged spat at by an Israeli player. Officials stopped an altercation during added time and there was verbal abuse exchanged after the game ended, according to The Guardian.

Sunday’s match was considered a “home” game for Ireland and was originally scheduled to be played in Dublin. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) moved the game to a neutral venue, citing “operational challenges” that could prevent it from safely taking place in Dublin. The team faced intense pressure in Ireland to boycott its Nations League matches against Israel in protest of the country’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war. The FAI submitted a motion in November that called on UEFA to ban Israel from all international competitions.

Israeli journalists also clashed with FAI communications manager Kieran Crowley at a pre-game press conference on Saturday, as seen in footage shared by Reuters. When an Israeli journalist asked about support that the Irish team has for Palestinians in relation to the recent Flydubai incident, Crowley tried to stop the journalist and said only “football questions” could be asked.

A second Israeli journalist then asked in a microphone about allegations that Irish players called their Israeli opponents “monkeys,” which Crowley shouted back was “completely untrue.” A man sitting next to the Israeli journalist tried grabbing his microphone away mid-question and the press conference abruptly ended shortly afterward.