THE OPPONENT. Ahead of Thursday’s Conference match, protests and unrest related to the Gaza conflict are feared in the city.
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The buzz is spreading online, as usual, and it started as soon as the official announcement of the match was made. Atalanta-Hapoel Tel Aviv, the first leg of the Conference League playoffs scheduled at the Bergamo stadium on Thursday at 8:30 PM, risks going beyond the purely football dimension and taking on geopolitical overtones.
The arrival of an Israeli team could bring with it a trail of controversies – and possibly tensions – related to the war in Gaza. At the moment, there are no particular public order measures, although a strengthening of security measures and police presence near the match is conceivable, to avoid extra-sporting “turbulence”; a variable will be determined by how many visiting supporters will be in the city following the team.
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The precedents
After all, some precedents call for caution. On October 14, 2025 – during a period of great mobilization in solidarity with the Palestinian people, during one of the most brutal phases of Israeli attacks – Italy-Israel was played in Udine, valid for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers: stadium capacity was limited, while in the city there were clashes between pro-Pal groups and police, with some injuries and several arrests. Fiorentina-Maccabi Haifa, played on March 14, 2024 for the Conference League round of 16, went essentially smoothly.
And then, basketball: Virtus Bologna-Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Euroleague, at PalaDozza on November 21, 2025, was accompanied by a day of fierce clashes between protesters and police, also in this case with arrests and detentions; the day before, however, Olimpia Milano-Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Forum in Assago was calm. In the complex “topography” of Israeli fandom, Hapoel Tel Aviv is a generally more progressive reality that also gathers support within the Arab-Israeli community, whereas Maccabi Tel Aviv – with a more fiery ultras component – holds predominantly nationalist positions. The approach to the European debut already promises to be “effervescent”.
