IRELAND-ISRAEL: UEFA'S EIGHTH BANNED PAIRING?

Ireland last year joined Türkiye and Norway in calling for the suspension of Israel’s UEFA membership for what the United Nations has termed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Nations League draw in February 2026 then pitted the two countries against each other, leading to the emergence of a ‘Stop the Game’ movement in Ireland and a request from the FAI for UEFA to keep them apart in future draws.

So why exactly did UEFA deny that request? Could that change if they were consistent in applying the criteria they have used for similar cases in the past? And what dramatic scenes unfolded in the run-up to their first meeting in Debrecen on Sunday?

Plus, we take a trip to watch FIFA’s newest member Kosovo for the first time as they play Austria in Vienna in the other game in Ireland and Israel’s group.

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Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:58 – The context for the animosity

03:38 – A dramatic day in Debrecen

06:37 – Ireland’s denied UEFA request

07:00 – Europe’s seven banned fixtures

08:22 – The Serbia-Albania criteria

11:30 – UEFA’s newest member Kosovo - live