Palestine’s soccer team has withdrawn from a tournament in Malaysia which was to serve as a warm-up for 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Australia and Lebanon next month.
“The withdrawal came due to players being unable to travel because of the events and circumstances that the Palestinian territories are going through,” Firas Abu Hilal, secretary-general of the Palestinian Football Association, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Palestine had been scheduled to compete in the Merdeka Cup – an international friendly tournament in Malaysia – from October 13-17 along with India, Tajikistan and Malaysia.
Hilal said the players’ plans had been disrupted by the repeated closure of a crossing connecting Jordan to the Palestinian territories, through which they would have travelled to Malaysia.
Palestine are due to play Australia at a venue to be determined on November 21.
Australia, Palestine and Lebanon will be joined in qualifying second round group I by either Bangladesh or the Maldives, who contest their first round tie this week. The top two progress to the 18-team third stage, and also qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup.
The unstable security situation in Israel has led to the postponement of the country’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Switzerland in Tel Aviv and much other sport, soccer’s European governing body UEFA says.
The postponement of Thursday’s match came the day after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip, with at least 700 people killed in Israel and around 2000 injured, and more than 400 dead in Gaza.
The postponements also include Israel’s under-21 Euro 2025 qualifiers against Estonia (October 12) and Germany (October 17), as well as an under-17 Euro 2024 mini-qualifying tournament between Israel, Belgium, Gibraltar and Wales set for October 11-17.
“In light of the current security situation in Israel, UEFA has decided to postpone all matches scheduled in Israel in the next couple of weeks with new dates to be confirmed in due course,” the governing body said in a statement on Sunday.
UEFA added it will assess whether Israel’s next match in Kosovo on October 15 can go ahead as planned.
Other sports have also been affected by the hostilities, with basketball games in the Eurocup between Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv and Wolves Vilnius on October 11, and the Euroleague a day later between Playtika Tel Aviv and EA/ Emporio Armani Milan postponed.
“Euroleague Basketball is monitoring the situation and will evaluate with the affected teams the best possible options to reschedule the games based on available dates,” a statement said.
In handball, Israel’s upcoming women’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Slovakia and Germany will also not be played “as a result of the terrible developments in Israel”, the governing body EHF said.
Newshttps://https://ift.tt/TKCc0Db cancel Socceroos warm-up as UEFA postpone Israel’s Euro 2024 qualifiers
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