The soccer derby between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv was called off Sunday after disturbances before kickoff led police to determine it was unsafe to go ahead.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will decline any tickets offered to their fans for the Europa League match at Villa Park, the Israeli club have said.

Hapoel criticized the police response in a statement Sunday, saying it “already seemed that the police were preparing for a war, not for a sporting event.”