Israel delay start of league season

The Israeli Football Association has decided on Sunday a one week delay to the start of the new league season set for next weekend, in a move that at the request of the country's top club, Maccabi Haifa, who have said it would be impossible to concentrate of football during a time of crisis.

"It is not possible to play normally during a time of war, things must be allowed to calm down," Haifa club president Jacob Shahar was quoted in the Maariv newspaper.

"Despite the fact that all matches on the opening weekend of the season take place in the centre of the country and there is no security risk, it has been decided to postpone the round of matches in order to give clubs another week to get ready after their preparations were hampered by the security situation," the Israeli Football Association said in a statement.

Last month UEFA banned all international fixtures from being held in Israel. This has forced Israeli clubs and teams to find alternative home venues in countries away from the conflict.

International football returned to Israel in April 2004 after a 25-month ban due to the worsening security situation in the country. Between March 2002 and April 2004 Israeli clubs and teams were forced to host their opponents at a number of European venues including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.