Police On Alert As Kosovo Hosts Israel For Euro 2024 Qualifier

By Adelina Ahmeti

Kosovo Police on Wednesday mentioned they are going to take measures to take care of order when Pristina’s Fadil Vokrri stadium hosts Israel’s nationwide group on November 12 in a match to qualifiy for the EURO 2024 soccer championship, which will probably be held in Germany.

“Kosovo Police … has foreseen endeavor safety measures for common safety earlier than, throughout and after the match,” the police advised BIRN, “in order that this sporting occasion goes as easily as different sport occasions.”

The match was scheduled for October 15 however was delayed by Europe’s soccer governing physique, UEFA, as a result of “the Israeli authorities presently don’t enable their nationwide group to journey overseas”.

That call got here after Hamas fighters launched a shock assault on Israel on October 7, killing over a thousand folks and seizing lots of of hostages, after which Israel declared “struggle” on the Islamist organisation.

The Israeli group sits third in Group I with 11 factors. Romania leads the group with 16 factors and Switzerland is second with 15 factors. Kosovo sits in fourth place with seven factors.

As protests towards the killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israeli forces have erupted in lots of regional cities, on Wednesday the Kosovo group’s official fan group, Dardanians, (Dardanët) issued an announcement remninding followers “to not enable any errors”.

The group mentioned that, “because of the sensitivity of the scenario”, they’ve been instructed by Police to have customized tickets.

“From the begin to the top, it needs to be solely a sports activities match as a result of there isn’t a and needs to be no different intention,” the fan group mentioned.

“For the sake of our pursuits as a rustic and as a nationwide group, we now have to strive for an accurate cheering and focus energies on ourselves, specifically to encourage our soccer gamers take a optimistic end result,” it added.

The primary qualifying match between Israel and Kosovo, performed in Tel Aviv on March 25, led to a 1:1 draw.