Ireland players refuse handshakes with Israelis before Nations League match

Before the UEFA Nations League match between the Republic of Ireland and Israel in Debrecen, Hungary, on Sunday, Irish national team players publicly declined to shake hands with their Israeli counterparts ahead of kickoff. The players also bowed their heads during the Israeli national anthem and wore black armbands during the match. Ireland went on to win decisively, 3-0, with goals scored in the 13th, 16th and 25th minutes. The match took place before a limited crowd but drew significant international attention due to its perceived political dimension linked to the war in Gaza.

Several international outlets, including Al Jazeera, Australia's ABC, Middle East Eye, Anadolu Agency, TRT World and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, reported consistently on the events of the evening. According to these reports, Irish players refused the pre-match handshake with Israeli players, bowed their heads during the anthem, and wore black armbands that multiple outlets described as being worn in memory of Palestinians killed in Gaza. Ireland's head coach, Heimir Hallgrímsson, was quoted by Haaretz as saying the team was 'not playing with genocide, we are playing against genocide.' This statement indicates that the gesture was a deliberate, coordinated political statement by the team and its coaching staff rather than a spontaneous individual act.

The events in Debrecen were part of a broader dispute surrounding the fixtures between Ireland and Israel in the current Nations League campaign. As Al-Monitor reported on September 25, Ireland's stance on the Gaza conflict had already extended into other areas of public life in the weeks prior, including the Eurovision Song Contest. According to that report, Ireland's official 'home' match against Israel is not being played in Ireland at all, but rather in Serbia on October 4 — an arrangement linked to security concerns and public protest. The same report noted that no Irish supporters were allowed inside the stadium for the Debrecen match, and that there was no regular Irish television broadcast with local commentary.

Separately, Al Jazeera reported that numerous pubs across Ireland refused to screen the match against Israel. This was described as part of a wider societal protest against Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, extending beyond the football pitch into segments of the Irish public and hospitality sector. The exact number of establishments involved was not specified in the available reporting.

The incident in Debrecen also fits into a broader pattern of protest actions surrounding Israel's Nations League fixtures this season. Middle East Eye reported that two days earlier, on September 25, Amnesty International Austria displayed a banner reading 'End Genocide' inside the stadium in Linz during Austria's match against Israel. The organization renewed its call for UEFA and FIFA to suspend the Israel Football Association over what it described as clear evidence of continued support for illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. This action underscores that protests connected to Israeli national team matches are not confined to Ireland but represent part of a wider movement across European football.

What remains unclear from the available reporting is how the Israeli team, the Israel Football Association, or UEFA itself officially responded to the refusal of the handshake. None of the provided sources indicate whether any disciplinary steps, formal investigations, or official statements followed the gesture. Details on the exact attendance figure in Debrecen are also vague, with reports describing the crowd only as 'limited.'

Coverage across multiple outlets, particularly from Middle Eastern and international media, consistently frames the Irish players' actions as a deliberate, coordinated gesture by the team and its coach. Differences between sources mainly concern emphasis: some reports foreground the sporting outcome — Ireland's clear 3-0 victory — while others focus more heavily on the political symbolism of the armbands and the refused greeting. A comprehensive, universally agreed interpretation of the events as either a closed political statement or evidence of a broader shift in European sport cannot be drawn conclusively from the available reporting alone.

For the upcoming fixture between Ireland and Israel, reportedly scheduled to be played in Serbia on October 4 as Ireland's official home match, it remains unclear whether similar scenes will be repeated. The events in Debrecen are likely to ensure that this next match, too, takes place under heightened international scrutiny.