Israel’s Saied Abu Farchi sent off for corner flag celebration in defeat by Austria

Israel’s forward Saied Abu Farchi was ⁠sent off as a result of his goal celebration against Austria in ⁠his side’s 3-1 ​Nations League defeat on Thursday.

Abu Farchi headed home in the 55th ⁠minute to bring Israel level after ​Austria had ‌taken the lead ‌through a Romano Schmid penalty before ‌half-time at the Raiffeisen Arena in Linz.

The 20-year-old ran to the corner flag, grabbed it and went down on one knee before continuing his celebration. Some reports suggested Abu Farchi used the corner flag to simulate a gun but he appeared to be mimicking a snooker cue. He has previously posted on social media: “It’s all a celebration of snooker.”

The ‌referee had booked Abu Farchi four minutes earlier and showed ​him a second yellow card for the celebration, leaving Israel with 10 players.

Austria regained ⁠the lead in the 90th minute through ​Phillipp ​Mwene, who scored via Paul ​Wanner’s cross. ‌Sasa Kalajdzic ​added ​a third in stoppage time with a close-range finish.

Israel’s head coach, Ran Ben Shimon, was quoted by Austrian media as saying: “Abu Farchi celebrates all his goals in this way – you can check that. Perhaps it was my fault that I didn’t tell him he needs to stop. He must learn from this. It is also a big lesson for us.”

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The Republic of Ireland slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Kosovo in their Nations League opener in Pristina. The buildup had been overshadowed by the controversy around upcoming fixtures against Israel, which the Ireland manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson, had admitted many of his squad members were uncomfortable about playing.

Chiedozie Ogbene had fired an early chance over before Kosovo responded to finish the first half strongly. The home side saw two shots cleared off the line before the Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher clawed away a header from Vedat Muriqi as Hallgrímsson’s side got to the break on level terms.

Ireland, who are scheduled to play Israel in Hungary on Sunday, showed plenty of spirit as they dug in for the second half, but were eventually undone with seven minutes left when the Kosovo captain, Vedat Muriqi, bundled the ball in from close range.

In a Group A4 match, Norway’s ‌Erling Haaland struck twice, including a 74th-minute winner, to edge his team past Denmark 3-2 in Oslo and earn their first competitive win over their opponents.

“It tasted sweet. It feels great to beat our neighbours,” the captain, Martin Ødegaard, said. “There is a lot we could have done better, but ​even when we were put under pressure, we found a way back and responded.”

The Danes had powered back from a two-goal deficit and levelled the game on the hour after first-half goals from Oscar Bobb and Haaland had put the hosts 2-0 up. Norway were also left with 10 men in stoppage time after David Møller Wolfe was sent off for receiving a second booking.

There was drama in Belgrade where Greece came from a goal down to snatch a 2-1 victory over Serbia thanks to Tasos Douvikas’s winner deep in stoppage time. Malta came from behind to beat Andorra 2-1 in their League D clash, while Lithuania won 2-0 in Liechtenstein.

• The headline, subheading and main text of this article were amended on 25 September 2026. An earlier version said that Saied Abu Farchi had made a gun-firing gesture during his celebration. However, other reports indicated that he was mimicking a snooker cue, and the wording has been amended accordingly.