Amsterdam may ban all fans from future Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv games after 2024 violence

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema said it is “highly likely” that no supporters will be allowed to attend the next football match in the capital involving Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. She made the remark during a city council debate on the findings of a report by the Institute for Security and Crisis Management (COT) into the violence surrounding the Ajax–Maccabi Tel Aviv match on the nights of November 7 and 8 last year.

“If Maccabi were to play Ajax again, then the incidents that occurred last year would be a reason to say: we consider this a high-risk match and would have to seriously consider not allowing any supporters into the game,” Halsema said. “Because a different situation arose that night, and because of that, we will likely not allow it.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were attacked, intimidated, and assaulted in several parts of the city in the evening hours of November 7, leading into November 8. Israeli supporters were also guilty of violent behavior.

The three leading authorities in Amsterdam (municipality, police, and Public Prosecution Service) asked the COT to investigate the events that occurred prior to the match and how the authorities handled the incidents. The report, which was published last month, stated that the municipality and the police could have done a better job with their communication regarding the violence.

During the council debate, some parties, including DENK and the SP, questioned whether it would have been better to bar the Maccabi fans from the game. Halsema responded by saying that Maccabi Tel Aviv was not known as a club with a history of violent incidents and that if they had chosen to ban the supporters from the game, it would only have been due to their Israeli nationality. “I felt that, given the Dutch government’s position on Israel, that would have been irresponsible."

Questions were also raised in the council about the flow of information during the night of the riots. The COT stated that the municipality and the police could have been more active in their communication.

Halsema said that the evening was “downright hectic.” She mentioned the stories of kidnappings as an example. “We worked until 9 a.m. to be absolutely sure that these incidents did not take place.”

The mayor said that she was pleased that the COT concluded that the authorities had done a sufficient job with their preparations. According to her, it remains a troubling sign for the future that the investigators concluded that the riots could not have been prevented.