Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel Aviv: What Does Banning Football Fans Achieve?

Image – Dom Le Roy

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On Thursday 6th November, Israeli football club, Maccabi Tel Aviv will play Aston Villa in the UEFA Europa League at Villa Park, Birmingham. The match has been marred by controversies including the continued presence of Israeli teams in international competitions, the history of fan violence perpetrated by Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, and the current conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. 

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Israeli football has been the centre of many controversies, some of which involve Maccabi Tel Aviv. A recent example includes fellow Israeli premier league team, Beitar Jerusalem fans setting fire to the clubs offices in retaliation to signing two Chechen Muslim players from Russia in 2013.

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The Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were originally banned from attending the match in Birmingham by the local council, with the UK Government stating that they would seek to overturn the ban, whilst Maccabi Tel Aviv themselves stated that they would refuse to sell tickets for the game should the ban be overturned.

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To understand the ban and the wider consequences, some context must be provided about the political influences of Israeli football teams. The major teams in Israeli football are owned by organisations with differing histories and political allegiances, making Israeli football more important to society than just a sport.

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The Israeli National Team, originally competed in the Asian Football Confederation, regularly competing in Asian competitions such as the Asia Cup and their Champions League equivalent, although they moved to UEFA IN 1991,after neighbouring countries refused to play them in international games, resulting in Israeli teams playing in UEFA competitions and increased anti-Muslim sentiment within the Israeli football scene.

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As already stated, Maccabi Tel Aviv alongside other Israeli football teams are owned and controlled by political organisations. There are some exceptions to this rule. Bnei Sakhnin, a team in the majority Arab-Israeli town of Sakhnin, are independent with their name meaning Sons of Sakhnin.

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Within the Israeli football league, the major organisations own multiple football teams across multiple major cities such as Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. The two major organisations, Hapoel and Maccabi, own teams in Tel Aviv, leading to a rivalry based on a mixture of locality, (with the teams sharing a stadium),political beliefs, and sporting prowess.

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Maccabi Tel Aviv were founded by the centrist and Zionist group of the same name. They are not as radical as Beitar Jerusalem, the club founded by the far-right Beitar Group who have a well-documented history of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment and have never signed an Arab player. However, this is not to say that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans are completely welcoming of Arab players. The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine combined with the already political football system has led to increased racism in the country at football matches, with Maccabi Tel Aviv being responsible for many of these incidents. 

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The other Tel Aviv football team, Hapoel, whose name means ‘worker’ in Hebrew, are linked to a more liberal set of political beliefs including socialism and are more welcoming to both Arab and Muslim players.

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The fears of Birmingham City Council regarding Maccabi Tel Aviv fan violence are not without cause. The Maccabi fans have a very recent history of violence when they have played in other European cities, most notably their match against Ajax in Amsterdam in November 2024. The game ended in a 5-0 defeat to Maccabi Tel Aviv but was marked by a wave of fan violence in the lead up to the game. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans allegedly took down a Palestine flag in the Dutch Capital, as well as their being various anti-Arab chants by the Maccabi fans in the city centre. This lead to retaliation from Ajax fans and attacks in the city and on the local Jewish population.

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Both the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and the Ajax fans were responsible for violence; however, the anti-Arab chanting and overall political sentiment of the fans led to the violence being more political than the usual football riots. Though this does not excuse the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans, as it is hard to ignore the role they played in the Ajax violence when looking at the incident in conjunction with their political beliefs, history and the increase in anti-Arab racism in Israeli football coinciding with the start of the current conflict in October 2023.

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It is not just the game against Ajax in which Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have been violent. Their recent Israeli Premier League game against city rivals Hapoel was called off before kick-off for similar incidents outside the Bloomfield Stadium which both teams share. The violence in the Hapoel game stemmed from a variety of places, including the differences in the club’s politics, fanbases, and footballing prowess. The sequence of events surrounding the Maccabi vs Hapoel match is being debated, with conflicting reports over who started the violence, whether it be the police or the Maccabi fan bases. Many reports suggested that the police targeted fans of both Maccabi and Hapoel due to the difference in political beliefs between the clubs and the current Israeli government.

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Given that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have a history of causing violence in European games and in the domestic league, a ban had to be expected for their fans. The chances of violence in the match against Aston Villa will have been increased by the announcement that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, would be attending, increasing fears of anti-Muslim sentiment and violence in an area with a large Muslim population.

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The reaction of the British Government to the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans by Birmingham City Council has not really done much. Prime Minister Kier Starmer had stated that ‘He would do everything in his power’ to overturn the ban. However, this would be a bad move politically, as siding with the notoriously violent Maccabi Tel Aviv fans and going against a local council and police force can be seen as an attack on local democracy and a lack of support for the local police force.

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The comments can also be considered tone death, ignoring the current conflict in the Middle East by siding with violent football fans over the local community in complete disregard for current political climates, once again showing that the current Government may not fully understand the beliefs of the electorate on international issues.

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Whether or not banning the team is the solution, the Maccabi fans will not be coming due to the club refusing to sell tickets. However, that is not to say that banning the team would have done nothing.

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There are two ways that the team can be banned, either banning the fans and allowing the team to play in matches overseas, or banning Israel completely from competing internationally, in an equivalent way to Russia at the Olympics. For the sport of football to remain respected, banning violent fans from attending matches is a sensible idea. You want sport to be safe, so this should not be a controversial opinion. The major controversy is banning Israel and Israeli teams from competing.

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There is not a lot of UEFA can do to stop Israel's political views or current actions in the Gaza Strip besides banning them, although it can undertake certain actions. Banning Israeli national and domestic teams from UEFA competitions would be a small gesture and ineffective, but it would be a statement from UEFA. Whether it would achieve much is up for debate.

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In Israel, a sporting ban can be seen as merely antisemitism, showing that the current world order does not want them there, and can be something easily forgotten and rendered meaningless. Although, if a country wants to be respected on the international scene, they should at least follow the rules of the said international scene. Banning Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv fans may protect other fans, but without a complete ban the move falls short of any statement on current political issues. A ban would be a small statement from UEFA, however without FIFA joining suit then Israel could still compete in the biggest tournament, the World Cup.

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There is a precedent for banning countries from sporting events. South Africa were banned from rugby and cricket during Apartheid and Russian athletes were banned from the Olympics but allowed to compete as neutrals. Football is different since it does not have that option. Either Israel is banned or it isn’t. The country should be treated the same as any other and if a sporting ban achieves anything positive then it has been a success and should be lifted once the state is complying with international regulations. But banning fans is a different message, one that can be away from politics and simply about safety; banning violent football fans makes the sport safer and leads to a better viewing experience for all.