Last update - 00:00 15/09/2006
UEFA soccer association lifts ban on home games in Israel
By Rami Hipsh and Moshe Boker, Haaretz Correspondents
The European Union of Football Associations (UEFA) on Friday revoked a ban preventing Israeli soccer teams from playing home game in Israel.
However, a 2004 UEFA decision requiring all matches in Israel to take place in the Tel Aviv area is still in effect.
UEFA imposed the ban some two months ago in the wake of the Lebanon war, forcing Israeli teams to choose stadiums outside Israel at which to hold their home matches against European teams.
Hapoel Tel Aviv beat the Chornomorets, a Ukrainian team, 1:0 in Odessa on Thursday in the first round of the UEFA cup. The Israeli team will host the second match on September 28 at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.
However, Israel's national men's and women's teams will not immediately benefit from the removal of the ban, since they have already played all their matches in the European Championship's semifinals. Israel played its home matches in Macedonia.
After UEFA instituted its ban on home matches, the international basketball association FIBA followed suit. It is now expected to allow Israeli basketball teams to play international matches in Israel, but has yet to issue an announcement to that effect.