Italy’s 2026 World Cup qualifier with Israel was prefaced by clashes between some pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police on Tuesday as thousands of others peacefully marched through Udine in anger at the hosting of a match they felt should not be played.
The Gaza ceasefire deal signed on Monday and a hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas did nothing to dampen the resolve of around 10,000 protestors who descended on the small city in Italy’s far north-east, a small section of whom were involved in disorder at the end of the march.
Over 1,000 police officers and army personnel were deployed while helicopters and drones flew overhead to keep a watch on a demonstration which was kept several kilometres away from the Bluenergy Stadium hosting the Group I fixture, won 3-0 by Italy. “It’s pointless hiding it, today was not easy, neither for us nor for you,” Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso told journalists after the match.
“There were many days in which we thought that there might be the possibility that we might not even play the match. We came here knowing it wouldn’t be a party atmosphere and we felt that. “I hope that in the future things will be a bit calmer. I think it will be, I don’t know what other problems could come out.”
There was little chance of protestors reaching the stadium as checkpoints were put up in a ring around it, with spectators having to pass concrete barriers and metal detectors in order to watch a match which was key to Italy’s bid to qualify for a World Cup for the first time since 2014.
The security operation was designed to stop rioting and ensure no-one got near the ground or the Israel team, but although the march started peacefully in warm autumn sunshine it ended with police using a water cannon and tear gas on some of the marchers who threw projectiles at officers.
There was little sign of violent disorder when the march started moving at around 18:00 local time (16:00GMT), with the loudest noise the drumming and sound systems accompanying dancing from people of all ages, who waved Palestinian flags and banners which read “show Israel the red card”.
“There’s no more bombs and that makes us happy, but the problem with this peace plan is that there is no talk of a Palestinian state,” says Amer Hasan, a 61-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank who has been in Italy since moving to study 42 years ago.
“There’s no talk of self-determination, no talk about the West Bank nor of the fate of Gaza… it seems like Gaza will be governed by Tony Blair and Donald Trump, without any involvement from the Palestinians. “We shouldn’t be playing this match because a team that represents a nation that has committed a genocide is playing.”
Hasan is a representative of Palestinian communities in the regions of Veneto and Fruili-Venezia Giulia, who with four other associations organised Tuesday’s march and welcomed more than 340 activist groups from all over Italy.
Match overshadowed
They all ask that football’s world governing body FIFA exclude Israel from international competition, as happened with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and were among the hordes of people chanting slogans like “Free Palestine” and “Genocidal Israel”.
More than 67,869 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched a military offensive in response to a brutal cross-border assault carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
There is anger in Italy over the country’s football federation (FIGC) refusing to entertain a boycott of matches with Israel, unlike the Football Association of Norway (NFF) whose head Lise Klaveness recently said Israel should be sanctioned.
“The Norwegian FA has begun taking a position against the presence of Israeli teams, there’s a totally different type of behaviour across the board compared to what you see here (in Italy),” said Carlina, an activist from Udine Committee For Palestine who helped organise the march. A large portion of Italian fans in a small crowd of 10,000 loudly booed the Israeli national anthem before being drowned out by applause.
There was more applauding when Mateo Retegui put Italy ahead from the penalty spot in stoppage time at the end of the first half, and he ensured Italy at least second place in the group and a play-off spot with a beautiful curling finish in the 74th minute, before Gianluca Mancini headed in the third late on.
Only top spot offers automatic qualification for next summer’s finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and Norway lead Italy by three points and a vastly superior goal difference with two matches remaining.