Ireland–Israel nations League clash overshadowed by political tensions

Home Sport To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 02:04 Issued on: 04/10/2026 - 10:27 Ireland and Israel are set to face off in the second leg of their Nations League matchup, with political tensions overshadowing the football. During last week’s first game in Bulgaria, Irish players wore black armbands in support of Gaza and pointedly lowered their heads during the Israeli national anthem. Ahead of Sunday’s match in Serbia, the Irish team cut a press conference short after facing intense questioning from Israeli journalists. Charlotte Lam has the details. Keywords for this article