UEFA defends policy after rejecting Ireland’s request not to play Israel
UEFA responds after Ireland's football association says its request to avoid future pairings with Israel was rejected.
UEFA has said that decisions on whether national teams should be kept apart in competition draws are made on a case-by-case basis and guided primarily by security considerations, after the Republic of Ireland’s football association said its request to avoid future pairings with Israel had been rejected.
Football Association of Ireland chief executive David Courell said on Friday that it had asked UEFA if the Republic of Ireland and Israel could be separated in future draws after being paired in February’s Nations League draw.
European football’s governing body said requests to stop teams being drawn against each other are considered individually.
Courell told reporters the FAI had been informed that such an arrangement would not be possible because Ireland and Israel had “never been in direct conflict”.