Ireland players were booed by the few Israel supporters present during the pre-match warm-up.
Although the FAI confirmed no tickets were sold to Irish supporters, a small number of fans were observed inside the stadium.
Hallgrimsson confirmed Bazunu would feature in the squad for Thursday’s match against Austria in Dublin, but not for the second fixture against Israel.
“I believe he is pleased with our victory,” Hallgrimsson stated.
“No one questioned his decision. The timing proved challenging to manage, but nobody asked him to abandon his stance. He is now returning with us on the team plane.”
When asked whether player opinions influenced his team selection for Sunday’s match, Hallgrimsson replied: “Absolutely not.”
“The selection was based solely on who we believed could deliver Ireland’s best performance.”
Saturday proved dramatic when doubts arose over whether the match would proceed after Ireland’s pre-match press conference was postponed due to a squad meeting.
The press conference eventually began at 14:30 BST on Saturday—over five hours behind schedule—with Courell announcing that a players’ vote to proceed had passed by a “significant majority”.
Courell added that Ireland would skip pre-match formalities, including handshakes.
In 2024, Ireland’s women’s basketball team refused to shake hands with Israel or stand for anthems during a EuroBasket qualifier in Riga, though the teams exchanged handshakes when they met again the following year.
Ireland has faced boycott calls since the Nations League draw in February.
In November, the FAI approved a motion urging Uefa to suspend Israel from competitions.
In May, a friendly against Qatar was disrupted when fans threw tennis balls bearing the Palestinian flag onto the pitch.
In June, the FAI confirmed the home fixture would be played behind closed doors in Backa Topola rather than Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, citing “operational challenges affecting game delivery on home soil”.
At a July extraordinary general meeting, delegates supported an FAI motion to proceed with the games, fearing boycotts would cause “significant and lasting harm” to the association.
Boycott calls have intensified in recent weeks, with over 160 Irish athletes signing an open letter from Irish Sport for Palestine urging the team not to play.
Courell also stated last week that Uefa rejected a request to keep Ireland and Israel separated in future competition draws.
Tensions escalated this week when the Israel Football Association accused Hallgrimsson of “ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity” following his comment, “we’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide”.
On Saturday, Hallgrimsson called his phrasing “a wrong word for me to use”, while Israel FA communications chief Shlomi Barzel declined to apologize for his association’s response but agreed to “take back the word stupidity”.
On 7 October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Israel subsequently launched a massive military offensive in Gaza, where over 73,000 people have been killed according to the Hamas-run health ministry—figures the United Nations considers reliable.
Israel has repeatedly denied committing genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity, stating its Gaza operations were conducted in self-defense in accordance with international law.
