Tension following the terrorist attacks on the US continues to affect sporting fixtures as nine of Austria’s national squad have refused to travel to Tel Aviv for Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Israel. Premiership team Chelsea also face an uncomfortable trip to the region to play Hapoel Tel-Aviv on October 18th in their UEFA Cup second round tie.
The Chelsea board had been concerned for the safety of it’s squad and decided to drop their sponsor’s logo - Fly Emirates - for the event. Several United Arab Emirates citizens have been implicated in the attack on September 11th.
"Chelsea's management reached an agreement with UEFA so its footballers do not wear shirts with the Emirates logo for the match," an Emirates spokesman said.
The Austrian withdrawals, which include five players from champions Tirol Innsbruck and most of the 23-strong squad's defence, leaves manager Otto Baric needing to find replacements for the tie which will decide who takes on Turkey in a play-off for next year's finals.
Baric said: "We must and we will play. Of course, we are weaker now. We will do all we can to make that necessary point."
Austria's media gave a mixed reaction.
"72 percent of Austrians on their side!" screamed the frontpage headline in the popular Kronen Zeitungnewspaper after the players pulled out of the European group seven match due to the political situation in Israel.
"Plucky players - or just cowards?" asked a headline in the sports section of the Kronennewspaper.
"Are they skiving off or is it an understandable human reaction?" the article asked, pointing out that Austria's foreign ministry advises travellers against making anything other than completely necessary trips to Israel.
But some papers were more decisive in their criticism of the Austrians' decision.
Der Standardnewspaper asked: "Why can players of other nationalities go to Israel at the moment, but some Austrians can not?"
One of players who pulled out - Tirol Innsbruck’s Walter Kogler - defended the players' actions saying: "We are not the ones letting the team down. It's the committees that decided we that we must go to Israel in the current political situation who have let us down."
Media reports also focused on the likely consequences for the players, pointing out that - according to the football association rule book - failing to play a match after having been called up for the squad could result in a ban.
"And when Austria qualify for the play-off against Turkey, will Baric be recalling those who refused?" the Kronennewspaper asked.