Israeli football facing Palestinian calls for action by FIFA at annual congress
Calls for action against Israel in international soccer because of the conflict with Hamas will be stepped up by Palestinian officials at the annual FIFA congress next month.
The Palestine Football Associa‐ tion proposal to 211 member fed‐ erations in Thailand calls for "appropriate sanctions, with im‐ mediate effect, against Israeli teams," according to FIFA docu‐ ments released late Wednesday, one month before the May 17 meeting.
The motion notes "international law violations committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza" and cites FIFA statutory commitments on human rights and against discrim‐ ination.
"All the football infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed, or seriously damaged, including the historic stadium of Al‐Yarmuk," the Palestine FA wrote, claiming support for the congress motion from the federations of Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
The latest call to punish Israel soccer will not be supported by FIFA and is unlikely to make progress because Israel can expect global backing including from the 55‐member European soccer body UEFA it joined 30 years ago. A cooperation deal also was signed last week between Israeli officials and the South American soccer body CONMEBOL.
Palestinian soccer cites the ex‐ ample of Russian teams being banned from international compe‐ titions by FIFA and UEFA during the military invasion of Ukraine that started in February 2022.
Russia's exclusion was sup‐ ported by FIFA because several UEFA members refused to play games against Russian opponents. They included all three men's na‐ tional teams – Poland, Sweden, Czech Republic – who were in a qualifying playoffs bracket in March 2022 for the men's World Cup that year. Russia did not play and Poland advanced to the tour‐ nament in Qatar.
Russian officials continue to take part in international soccer meet‐ ings, including the executive com‐ mittee of UEFA, and should have a delegation with FIFA in Bangkok next month.
Israeli national and club teams have continued to play in UEFA competitions since the Oct. 7 at‐ tacks by Hamas, though home games were played in neutral Hungary and Cyprus for security reasons.
The Palestine FA said in its pro‐ posal to FIFA: "There is a good chance that some football associa‐ tions will refuse to play against Is‐ rael."
Last year, Indonesia was stripped by FIFA of hosting the men's Under‐20 World Cup be‐ cause it refused to host games for Israel which qualified several months earlier. The tournament moved to Argentina and Israel reached the semifinals. Within weeks, FIFA compensated Indone‐ sia with hosting rights for the men's Under‐17 World Cup played late last year.
The soccer dispute between the Palestinians and Israelis was put on the FIFA agenda repeatedly from 2013‐17, including at con‐ gresses, without making signifi‐ cant progress.
Palestinian soccer leader Jibril Rajoub urged FIFA at the congress in 2015 and 2017 to sanction Is‐ rael for incorporating into its na‐ tional leagues teams that played games on disputed territory in the West Bank.