Aston Villa have warned their fans against displaying political symbols, messages or flags during next month's Europa League clash with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The match has become politicised after Birmingham’s safety advisory group banned supporters of the Israeli side from attending.
Maccabi announced on Monday evening they would decline any away tickets for the November 6 clash at Villa Park after the UK Government had said it was "working around the clock" to ensure fans from both sides could attend.
On Tuesday Villa announced their ticketing policy for the match and warned their fans against breaking UEFA protocols in displaying political messages within the stadium.
They also imposed sanctions on those wanting to buy tickets, as only supporters with a previous purchase history from before this season will be able to access a ticket.
The club also revealed they will not be selling tickets in what will be a vacant away end and have warned against supporters reselling their tickets.
Villa have been thrown into the eye of the storm after 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 would be allowed to attend.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer then weighed in, calling the move "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.
The Israeli side said in a statement on Monday evening that it had decided not to accept any tickets for the match for its fans.
The club 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."
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said on Tuesday that the Government was still talking to police about putting extra resources in place for the match.
Asked if Downing Street still sees a possibility the game could be policed in a way that would allow Maccabi supporters to attend, he said "discussions continue" with West Midlands Police, who are reviewing their risk assessment to see what resources could be put in place.
West Midlands Police last week classified the fixture as "high risk". They said the decision was "based on current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam".
Earlier on Monday, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the decision to bar supporters "chooses exclusion" of Jewish people.
In response to an urgent question in the House of Commons from former sports minister Nigel Huddleston, Nandy said the final call must ultimately be made by the police.
However, she said the country "should be appalled" that the initial risk assessment was, she claimed, "based in no small part on the risk posed to those fans that are attending who support Maccabi because they are Israeli, and because they are Jewish".
Ayoub Khan, the independent MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said there had been "a deliberate, disingenuous move by many to make this a matter of banning Jews, to conflate matters of policing with those of religion".
He added: "Those who are not welcome in Aston are hooligans that have a long history of violence and vile racism."
Nandy replied: "In relation to the specific incidents and chants that he mentions, I am appalled by those, and none of us in this house should seek to condone that in any sense.
"But can I say to him as well that it is entirely disingenuous to say that you respect cohesion and inclusion when you’re seeking to divide and exclude."
Nandy agreed there were "a minority" of Maccabi fans "whose behaviour is reprehensible" but added: "That is not the case for all fans. What is astonishing in this case is that it is unprecedented in modern times that all away fans have been banned because of the behaviour of a small minority."
However, police forces elsewhere in Europe have already banned visiting fans in Marseille (Ajax Amsterdam) and Napoli (upcoming fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt) due to safety concerns in the (top tier) Champions League this season.
The Fare network, which reports incidents of discrimination to UEFA from national team and European competition matches, said on Friday it was "reluctant to question" the decision to bar Maccabi fans and added that Maccabi fans were "the biggest perpetrators of racism in Israeli football".
Fare is understood to have made multiple referrals to UEFA in the last 10 years concerning discriminatory behaviour by Maccabi fans inside stadiums.
It also emerged on Monday that the UK Football Policing Unit were speaking to the Israeli authorities to understand what role, if any, Maccabi supporters played in disturbances that led to the cancellation of the Tel Aviv derby on Sunday.
Maccabi insist their fans were not involved in the unrest, and the club added: "Our fans regularly travel all over Europe without incident and to suggest that the reason our fans cannot be allowed to travel is due to their behaviour is an attempt to distort reality and to excuse the real underlying reasons for the decision to ban our fans.
"Our fans, the Jewish community, know all too well this tactic and all are too familiar with where it can lead."
