Maccabi Tel Aviv says it will decline any tickets offered to fans at Villa match

Maccabi Tel Aviv has said it will decline any tickets offered to their fans for the Europa League match at Villa Park.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer’s Government had been working with West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to make sure fans from both Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv could attend the fixture.

The Israeli club said in a statement that a “toxic atmosphere” had put the safety of fans wanting to attend “very much in doubt”.

It said: “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount and from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context.

“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”

Birmingham’s safety advisory group, the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for every match at Villa Park, last week said that no away fans will be allowed to watch.

The Prime Minister then weighed in, calling the move to bar fans “wrong” and for it to be overturned.

The Government had been expecting West Midlands Police to set out this week what they would need to police the game safely with both sets of fans present.

Downing Street said earlier on Monday that the UK Football Policing Unit was “reaching out” to Israeli authorities to understand why an  Israeli Premier League match between rivals Hapoel and Maccabi was called off.

Trouble reportedly flared before kick-off in and around the Bloomfield Stadium, a venue shared by Hapoel and Maccabi.