LAST UPDATE | 20 mins ago

CALLS HAVE BEEN issued for the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to boycott football matches against Israel in the Uefa Nations League.

Ireland was drawn into the same group as Israel, Austria and Kosovo for the league last night, and the FAI confirmed shortly after the draw that Ireland would be fulfilling the games against Israel.

Previously FAI membership and the Irish manager have called on Israel to be banned from competition.

At an EGM last year, a motion tabled by Bohemians calling for Israel to be banned from Uefa competitions was passed by a significant majority. The FAI wrote to Uefa on 20 November last year to formally request that Israel be banned from competition. 

However, the FAI said yesterday that they would be fulfilling the fixtures because they’d risk being disqualified from the Nations League if they didn’t play the games. 

Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne has accused the FAI of only having a principled position “on paper”, and called on it to boycott the fixtures against Israel. 

“In November, the FAI voted to submit a motion to Uefa to ban Israel from its European club and international competitions. That was the correct moral and principled position to take,” she said.

“Therefore, I am extremely angry and dismayed that the FAI have confirmed they will play against Israel. It appears that their morals, and principled position, was only on paper – not in actions where it counts.

“Israel should not be in this competition. Uefa should have expelled them as soon as Israel went into Gaza on a genocidal, ethnic cleansing mission that has seen tens of thousands of innocents murdered, including hundreds of sports men and women.

Byrne said Uefa is displaying “double standards” as it expelled Russia from all club and international competitions in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine. 

“I hope the FAI knows the furore that will be coming for them from the Irish football fans – the vast, vast majority will not want to see our Boys In Green in the same stadium as the Israeli team.

Labour MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that the Irish footballing public would support the FAI if it decided to boycott the fixtures on the basis of an ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Any individual player who refuses to play against Israel should also be supported”, he said.

“History demands we stand against genocide and apartheid and for international law.”

Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats meanwhile stated that the “players who step on the pitch must be central to the decision-making process.”

She added that “Israel should not be permitted to play in UEFA competitions, just as Russia was banned for its illegal invasion of Ukraine”. 

Trade union Siptu meanwhile has said that members employed by the FAI have raised “serious safety concerns” regarding any proposed Nations League match between Ireland and Israel.

Siptu Deputy General Secretary, Greg Ennis, said such a match “is not only a serious political and moral issue but also has safety implications for workers and players which the FAI must consider”.

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He said there is a “duty of care the FAI must show for its staff” and that as a result, it must “rule out this fixture”.

“It is up to the governing association to consider these issues and not place players and staff in a situation where their safety and future reputations are in jeopardy,” said Ennis.

He added: “Irish sport has not been placed in such a predicament since the days of the sporting boycott against South Africa.

“The reputations of players and sporting organisations who broke that boycott were severely tarnished.

“In 1970, a rugby game between Ireland and South Africa led to major disruption, violence, and disorder in Dublin. Let’s not make the same mistake.

“We believe the Irish people want the FAI to do the right thing here.”

The ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza has killed at least 70,117 people as of December 2025.

The FAI has been contacted for comment.