Euro 2016 qualifier postponed, as Germany friendly cancelled

31 August 2014, 12:37 pm

Israel’s opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Belgium – set for next week – has been postponed and moved to next March, which means a planned friendly against Germany has had to be cancelled.

Eli Gutman’s side were due to start their qualifying campaign against Belgium on 8 September in Jerusalem, though due to the current security situation in the area, UEFA deemed it unsafe to stage the match. The match was set to be relocated to Cyprus, however, the Israel Football Association asked the Belgian FA to postpone the match instead, which they agreed to.

But in rescheduling the game for 25 March, the prestigious friendly between Germany has had to be cancelled. The president of the German Football Association, Wolfgang Niersbach said: “This is naturally very sad for us, but it was clear that we had to meet the request of our Israeli friends.” He added the game could be played later in 2015.
Despite the postponement of the Belgium game, Israel will still be holding a training camp in Shefayim, starting on Monday. Gutman named a 27-man squad which included Maccabi Haifa’s Yossi Benayoun, but Celtic’s Beram Kayal was dropped.
Israel will now being their 2016 qualifying campaign against Cyprus on 10 October.
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