UEFA has forfeited its authority over venue security, and the Israeli Embassy’s offer to provide security forces in Leuven is the predictable result of that abdication. Mayor Mohamed Ridouani was elected to protect the people of Leuven, not to referee a geopolitical conflict, and he exercised that duty when he refused to host the match on safety grounds. When a foreign embassy then offers to override a Belgian mayor’s security assessment, the Europa League stops being a football competition and becomes a proxy arena for states with no business in municipal logistics. Aleksander Čeferin cannot keep hiding behind “local authorities” while those authorities absorb diplomatic pressure his organization should have neutralized months ago.
The evidence is not theoretical. Last season we watched Maccabi Tel Aviv play in empty, fortress-like conditions in Serbia and Hungary,