Hosting a match for the Italian national football team is usually a moment of pride for any city. But for Udine, next Tuesday’s game against Israel is proving to be a source of worry, not celebration. This 2026 World Cup qualifier is set for the Friuli stadium, home to Udinese. City officials are bracing for trouble, fearing it could become a flashpoint for protests about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Alberto Felice De Toni, Udine’s mayor, shared his deep concerns with ‘LaPresse’. He even suggested playing the match without fans might be safer. “Even holding the game behind closed doors would keep things from getting worse,” he explained. The numbers he sees are truly unsettling for local authorities. “We expect 6,000 people inside the stadium,” De Toni stated. “But we are preparing for ten thousand outside.”
This situation feels both extreme and contradictory to the mayor. He points out the strange fact that more people are anticipated to protest outside than to watch inside. “It’s a dramatic and paradoxical situation,” he added. “But we will have more people on the streets.” This unexpected burden makes the city’s preparations much harder.
While the upcoming Italy-Israel match brings significant headaches, De Toni holds onto a dream for the future of football. He spoke of a different kind of game he’d love to host one day. “I would like to one day welcome an Israel-Palestine match,” he wished. For him, such a sporting event would carry immense meaning. “It would signal that two states had truly been created, and we would finally have peace.”