{"id":8776,"date":"2023-11-16T05:15:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T23:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/2023\/11\/16\/euro-2024-qualifiers-israel-switzerland-play-out-1-1-draw-in-hungary\/"},"modified":"2023-11-16T05:15:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T23:45:53","slug":"euro-2024-qualifiers-israel-switzerland-play-out-1-1-draw-in-hungary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/2023\/11\/16\/euro-2024-qualifiers-israel-switzerland-play-out-1-1-draw-in-hungary\/","title":{"rendered":"Euro 2024 qualifiers: Israel, Switzerland play out 1-1 draw in Hungary"},"content":{"rendered":"

A European Championship qualifying game between Switzerland and Israel ended with a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, a match that brought the Israeli team to Hungary after all scheduled games in Tel Aviv were postponed due to the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

The match was one of two \u201chome games\u201d Israel is hosting in Felcsut, a Hungarian village of around 1,900 people, as it chases a qualifying place in the Euro 2024 continental championship. If the team qualifies, it will be its first time since joining the European football federation in 1994.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the game, fans draped in Israeli flags gathered outside the heavily guarded stadium, singing chants as their team\u2019s bus arrived.<\/p>\n

The mood was celebratory, but some fans \u2014 some of whom travelled from as far away as Israel to attend the match \u2014 were solemn in describing the significance of the contest.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ | Granit Xhaka sets Switzerland record with 119th appearance during Israel Euro 2024 qualifiers<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going through a very, very difficult time right now, and it just felt right,\u201d said Aaron Morali, an Israeli fan who drove two hours from Vienna, Austria to watch the game. \u201cWe\u2019re Jewish, we\u2019re here … It was very important for us to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fears of antisemitic acts are on the rise across Europe, the security of the Israeli team was a decisive factor in bringing the rescheduled qualifying games to Hungary.<\/p>\n

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has a holiday home only steps away from the 3,500-seat Pancho Arena in Felcsut, has long claimed that Hungary is one of the safest places in Europe for Jewish people, and maintains close relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

As the game approached, heightened security transformed the ordinarily quiet village, making the presence of police and other security forces apparent to local inhabitants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe village is a bit upside down, everybody going in and out of the facility is checked,\u201d said Rikardo Mate, a Felcsut resident.<\/p>\n

After Wednesday\u2019s game, Israel remains in third place in Group I of Euro 2024 qualifying, behind Switzerland and Romania with 16 points each. The top two teams automatically qualify for Euro 2024 in Germany.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s next match against Romania will be held in Felcsut on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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\nComments\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel drew 1-1 with Switzerand in the UEFA Euro 2024 Group I qualification match in Felcsut, Hungary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sport-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}