European Qualifier match between Belgium and Sweden declared abandoned with half-time result confirmed as final

Photo courtesy UEFA.com

Article courtesy of UEFA Advanced Media

Nyon, Switzerland. - EURO 2024 qualifying match Belgium vs Sweden

With regard to the European Qualifier match between Belgium and Sweden abandoned at half-time upon request and agreement of the two teams, following the terrorist attack that killed two Swedish supporters in Brussels on 16 October, the UEFA Executive Committee decided today that:

• The match is abandoned and the result at the half-time interval (1-1) is confirmed as final

• Each team is awarded one point with the Group F standings to be updated accordingly

• Any suspension is considered served and single yellow cards remain valid

To take the mentioned decision, the Executive Committee took note that it had proved impossible to play the remaining part of the match on the following day; both the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, given the circumstances, explicitly expressed their desire not to play the remaining match time and to consider the result at the half-time interval (1-1) as final; the result of this match does not impact the qualification of Group F since Belgium is already mathematically qualified to the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament (together with Austria) and Sweden is mathematically eliminated; the respective fixtures do not allow any date to be used in the upcoming November international window, when the preliminary group stage of the competition must be concluded, to be followed by the play-off draw and final tournament draw.

UEFA competition matches in Israel

After a thorough evaluation of the current safety and security situation in the whole territory of Israel, the UEFA Executive Committee decided that no UEFA competition matches shall be played in Israel until further notice.

The Israel Football Association and its clubs Maccabi Haifa FC and Maccabi Tel-Aviv have been requested to propose alternative venues/stadiums (which must comply with all applicable UEFA regulations) outside the territory of Israel for their home matches to be used for as long as this decision remains in force.

Update on upcoming fixtures involving teams from Israel

UEFA has furthermore announced the following postponements:

UEFA Europa League

Villarreal CF vs Maccabi Haifa (Group F – Thursday 26 October) has been postponed to Wednesday 6 December 2023.

UEFA Europa Conference League

Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Zorya Luhansk (Group B – Thursday 26 October) has been postponed to Saturday 25 November 2023.

UEFA Youth League

Due to the current situation, Maccabi Haifa Youth team has withdrawn its participation from the domestic champions path of this season's UEFA Youth League. UEFA has taken note and confirmed that AC Sparta Praha Youth team is therefore qualified to the Round 2 of the domestic champions path.