War in Israel: international sports canceled in the country

After the major attack by the Islamist Hamas, international sport in Israel has come to a standstill. This also affects German handball players and U21 footballers, whose international matches in the region have already been canceled. Meanwhile, German sports sided with Israel and condemned the violent attacks that began on Saturday. “There is no justification for the killings and the brutal violence against the civilian population,” wrote FC Bayern on X (formerly Twitter) and expressed its concern for “the friends in Israel.”

The European Football Union canceled planned international matches at European level in Israel, including the away game of the German U21 team in the qualification for the 2025 European Junior Championships in Petah Tikva scheduled for October 17th. The same applies to the European Championship qualifier between Israel and Switzerland, which was scheduled to take place on Thursday. UEFA wants to further examine whether Israel’s further qualifying match against Kosovo can be played on October 15th.

“None of us wants to travel to Israel”

For the German handball players, the trip to the international match in Tel Aviv on Saturday is also canceled. A catch-up date has not yet been set, as the German Handball Federation (DHB) announced on Sunday evening after consultation with the European association EHF. “In the current situation, handball is completely pushed into the background,” Mark Schober, CEO of the DHB, is quoted in the statement.

A logical decision. “None of us wants to travel to Israel in the current situation, the situation doesn’t allow for that. There are more important things than a handball game at the moment,” DHB captain Alina Grijseels told the “handball-world” portal after the violent fighting broke out. said.

In basketball, two European Cup games are affected. The Euroleague game between EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv scheduled for Thursday and the Eurocup match between Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv and Wolves Vilnius scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed indefinitely, the organizers of the two competitions announced.

Hamas launched a surprise rocket attack on Israel from Gaza on Saturday morning. At the same time, armed Palestinians advanced into Israel by land, sea and air and attacked people in several towns near the border. In return, the Israeli Air Force bombed additional Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip. Two days after the attack, fighting continued Monday morning.

Arsenal professional insulted after showing solidarity

Numerous Bundesliga clubs expressed their condolences over the weekend after the events in Israel. The two second division teams FC Schalke 04 and Hertha BSC played with mourning ribbons. The Israeli goalkeeper Daniel Peretz, currently number two at FC Bayern, did not want to comment anymore after the game against SC Freiburg (3-0), but had previously documented his connection to his homeland on Instagram.

The Ukrainian Arsenal professional Oleksandr Zinchenko also did this on Instagram, but he then received a lot of insults and then switched his account to private, as the “Daily Mail” reported.

The Israeli gymnast Artem Dolgopyat experienced difficult times when he won the title at the World Championships in Antwerp shortly after the attacks on his country began, thus ensuring Israel’s greatest success. “I heard that there were dead and wounded people. All day long I didn’t know how to get it out of my head,” said Dolgopyat, who was born in Ukraine, afterwards.

“It was clear to me that if I hadn’t turned off my phone, I wouldn’t be able to do gymnastics. A very difficult day for our country. I ended the day as world champion, but my mind and my heart are at home.”