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 been canceled. German sport stands with Israel and condemns 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, expressing its concern for “the friends in Israel.”
The European Football Union (Uefa) canceled planned international matches at European level in Israel. This also includes the away game of the German men’s U21 team in qualifying 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 continue to examine whether Israel can play another qualifying game away from home against Kosovo on October 15th.
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 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. “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.
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.
Numerous Bundesliga football clubs expressed their condolences for those affected by the events in Israel at the weekend. 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, had already documented his connection to his homeland on Instagram.
