UEFA bans Israel’s Hapoel Beer Sheva from playing at home stadium

JERUSALEM, Aug. 9  — The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on Tuesday decided to ban the southern Israeli club Hapoel Beer Sheva from holding its upcoming Conference League qualifying match at its home stadium for security reasons.
Beer Sheva will therefore host Thursday’s second-leg match of the third qualifying round against the Swiss side FC Lugano in the coastal city of Netanya, about 140 kilometers north of Beer Sheva’s Toto Turner Stadium, according to a statement issued by the club on Tuesday.
The city of Beer Sheva was hit by rockets on Sunday, during the fighting between the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
Although the fighting stopped on Sunday night, after a ceasefire was agreed upon, the UEFA decided to move the match from Beer Sheva.
The UEFA’s decision was not changed despite appeals from the Israel Football Association’s chairman Oren Hason and the Sports Minister Chili Tropper, who claimed that life in the city had returned to normal.
Beer Sheva won the first leg 2-0 last week in Switzerland. The winner on aggregate will face Ukraine’s Zorya Luhansk or Romania’s Universitatea Craiova in the playoff round.   (Xinhua)