Why Israel is a member of Uefa and Israeli teams play in the Champions League

An English club could find itself travelling to Israel for a Champions League fixture this year, with Maccabi Haifa vying for a place in the group stage.Haifa takes on Serbian club FK Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade in English) in the final qualifying round, with the first leg on Wednesday.Some fans question why Israeli teams play in the Champions League (and indeed why Israel play in the Euros) since Israel is not in Europe – here’s why Israel is a part of Uefa.Why is Israel in Uefa?Israel’s footballing history is long and complex.It started out as a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), beginning to compete in 1954.However, many Muslim countries refused to play against Israel due to the Arab League’s boycotting of the country.This led to a situation where Israel technically qualified for the 1958 World Cup without actually kicking a ball. Fifa wanted to avoid this sutation, so set up a play-off against Wales, which Israel lost.Israel hosted and won the 1964 AFC Asian Cup...