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PARIS — UEFA says Israel's playing status in European soccer is not in question ahead of playoff games involving the men's national team next month amid the conflict with Hamas. Israel will face Iceland on March 21 in a European Championship qualifying playoff being played in neutral Budapest, Hungary. The winner faces Ukraine or Bosnia-Herzegovina in a decisive playoff five days later. At a UEFA news conference Thursday Russia's ongoing ban from international soccer and Yugoslavia's exclusion from Euro 1992 were cited. UEFA official Theodore Theodoridis says there's "no such discussion or such intention" for a similar decision.
