Could Israeli Players Enter Indonesia for the U-20 World Cup?

Jakarta, MINA – The Israeli football team is certain to qualify for the U-20 World Cup which will be held in Indonesia. Then, can the Israeli national team players enter Indonesia even though there are no diplomatic relations between the two countries?

Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Teuku Faizasyah spoke about Indonesia’s position as the host of an international event. He then gave an example when Indonesia hosted an international event.

“If you look at the precedent, for international events held in Indonesia and Indonesia only as hosts, for example the recent IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union) meeting, participation is possible because invitations come from third parties or international bodies. For global events the inviter is FIFA,” said Faizasyah when asked for confirmation on Monday as quoted from Detik.com.

Representatives from the Israeli parliament were present at the IPU which was held in Bali last March. The Israeli Parliament is indeed a member of the IPU.

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Back to Faizasyah. He did not explain in detail whether the Israeli national team players could enter Indonesian territory or not. He said there is an immigration process that determines whether or not someone can enter Indonesian territory.

“To enter there is an immigration process,” he said.

Previously, Israel confirmed a place in the 2023 U-20 World Cup which will be held in Indonesia. This was achieved thanks to being the runner-up in the group phase in the 2022 U-19 Euro event.

In the last match of Group B Euro U-19, Israel actually lost 0-1 to England, Saturday. England’s only goal was scored by Liam Rory Delap, son of Rory Delap.

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Israel qualify because their competitors, namely Serbia, even lost in the last game. Serbia was beaten by Austria by a score of 2-3 in the other last Group B match.

As a result, Israel remains in second place in Group B with a score of 4 points. Meanwhile, Serbia, which had the potential to overtake Israel, was instead evicted by Austria (3 points) to a distended ranking by only winning 1 point. The U-20 World Cup will be held in Indonesia on 20 May-11 June 2023. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)