Airport-Style Checks and Hundreds of Police for Maccabi Matches

Hundreds of police officers and airport-style security checks will be in place at Maccabi Tel Aviv's home matches at the Spyros Kyprianou Arena in Limassol. The first match will be played on Thursday. Police announced this on Monday.

Security at the stadium will be handed over to the police one day before each match. The venue will be searched and protected until the fans and delegations have left. Fans, delegation members, official guests and team officials will pass through metal detectors at the entrances. Counter-terrorism and intelligence units will also be involved in the process. Maccabi officials are taking part in the planning meetings.

Each match will be treated as a separate operation, and measures will be reviewed in advance according to the latest risk assessment. Maccabi's home matches against Hapoel Tel Aviv on November 12 and Olympiacos on November 17 are expected to be the most crowded, so special attention will be paid to them.

Tickets will be sold online only, and no printed tickets will be issued. Buyers from Cyprus will need to present their identity and fan card details, while foreign fans will need to register their identity card or passport number. About 3,000 tickets are expected to be allocated to fans coming from Israel and about 1,500 to people in Cyprus. Away teams may be given a limited quota of up to 140 people. Fans may wear team jerseys but may not bring in flags or banners.

Preparations have drawn attention because Michalis Herodotou, who has served for more than 20 years in the police's sports violence unit, was appointed to the Nicosia Police Department about 10 days before the first match. He was about 15 months away from retirement. The police said the decision was made by Police Chief Themistos Arnaoutis, that it would not affect the planning, and that no match is managed by a single person.

On November 4, Euroleague approved the arena as Maccabi's home venue for the 2026/27 season until further notice. Maccabi has played its home matches in Belgrade since 2023, the year of the Hamas attack.