Tomás Ó Flatharta

The Republic of Ireland’s soccer team has been drawn against Israel in September and October 2026 in the Nations’ League tournament. The sleeveen Dublin government, run by a right-wing coalition government (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Beggar-Gombeens) [FFFGBG], is insisting the fixture must go ahead, despite rising popular opposition.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) debated the Israel issue at a November 2025 Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) and voted by a 91 per cent majority to expel the Israeli football team from all international competitions.

Link :
FAI EGM Votes for ban on Israeli soccer team – 91 per cent majority

Bohemian FC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Lambert proposed the motion.

He said its purpose was to highlight “two serious breaches of the UEFA statutes that have taken place now for a long number of years”.

“First, and probably the most important, is that there are teams playing on occupied lands, which is explicitly prohibited by UEFA statute for very good reason.

“And the second is the absolute failure of UEFA to tackle serious instances and continued instances of racism, which has been highlighted by numerous Israeli NGOs, as well as international NGOs, so it’s not something that people are commenting on without knowledge.”

Mr Lambert said “it flies in the face of logic that one association, in a game governed by rules, can breach UEFA statutes with no measures taken against them, or with no roadmap to take any action”.

He said the motion will now be sent by the FAI to UEFA.

“We’ve asked the FAI to instruct UEFA EXCO ( executive committee) to take action against the Israeli FA under the statutes. They should be excluded from competitions, that’s what we’re hoping will happen.”

Sleeveen boss of the Dublin government Micheál Martin insists the game has to go ahead in Dublin – but retreat is on the agenda.