The Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv has formally announced that it will not accept any away-fan ticket allocation for its forthcoming Europa League fixture against Aston Villa at Villa Park. This decision comes amid heightened safety concerns and a controversial ban imposed on the club’s travelling supporters by UK authorities.
The match in question is scheduled for 6 November 2025. The local UK safety body, the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) in Birmingham, acting on advice from West Midlands Police, classified the fixture as “high risk” and instructed that no away fans should be permitted to attend.
In response, Maccabi’s statement stressed the priority of its supporters’ welfare:
“The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount … from hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans.”
They also noted that while they acknowledged efforts by the UK government and police to ensure safe attendance for all, they believed the “toxic atmosphere” around the match made travel unsafe.
Background & context
The decision by West Midlands Police to label the tie high risk centred partly on past incidents involving Maccabi fans, most notably the 2024 Europa League match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam, where violent confrontations and hate-crime offences occurred.
Beyond historical incidents, Maccabi cited recent disorder in Israel: a derby match between Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv was abandoned following pre-match violence, reinforcing the club’s concerns over travelling supporters’ safety.
Government officials in the UK became involved once the ban on away fans was announced. Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly described the decision as “the wrong decision”, emphasising that football fans should be able to attend games without fear of violence or intimidation.
Nevertheless, even as the UK government expressed regret and offered “additional resources and support” to facilitate the attendance of both sets of fans, Maccabi’s refusal to take up any ticket allocation means that no Maccabi travelling supporters will attend the game.
Implications
The absence of away fans from Maccabi raises a number of implications:
- For the match atmosphere: Having one side of supporters missing changes the dynamic of the fixture significantly, both in terms of crowd vitality and potential commercial/operational aspects for Aston Villa.
- For fairness and equality in sport: Critics argue the ban, and the subsequent self-exclusion by Maccabi, may set troubling precedents around limiting fan travel based on perceived risk, ethnicity, or national origin.
- For Maccabi’s fan base: The club’s decision underlines how deeply the safety concerns are felt, signalling a lack of confidence in the match environment even if official bans were overturned.
- For UK policing and football governance: The case becomes a high-profile instance of how sport, public order and political concerns (including antisemitism and protests) intersect in major fixtures.
Maccabi’s stance—while rooted in fan safety—also reflects an uncomfortable broader context: the club stated that “various entrenched groups seek to malign the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan base … and exploit isolated incidents for their own social and political ends.”
What next
With no away supporters from Maccabi expected, the fixture will proceed with only home-supporters at Villa Park. The club and authorities will likely continue preparatory work on safety, policing, and fan conduct. For Maccabi, the priority will be ensuring that future fixtures abroad can take place with safer conditions for their supporters. In their statement they expressed hope to “play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Meanwhile the broader issues of fan rights, risk assessments, and sporting inclusion will remain under scrutiny until mechanisms can guarantee the safe and fair travel of all supporters in major international club fixtures.
In short, the key points: Maccabi Tel Aviv have refused to take ticket allocations for their away match at Aston Villa because of safety concerns for their supporters; UK authorities had already advised no away fans to travel following a high-risk assessment; the decision has triggered political and social debate about fans’ rights and sports safety.
