FIFA says they will investigate the Israel Football Association (IFA) over alleged breaches of its rules.
The IFA is accused of violating FIFA regulations by the Palestine Football Association (PFA).
In a proposal that was first tabled at the FIFA congress in May, the PFA called on FIFA to suspend Israel for being complicit in “unprecedented international human rights and humanitarian law violations” during the war in Gaza. The IFA deny all allegations.
PFA president Jibril Rajoub said having six Israeli teams based in the Palestinian West Bank territory was a clear breach of FIFA’s code of ethics.
Rajoub — who called on FIFA “to stand on the right side of history” — also said that more than 250 Palestinian athletes, the majority of whom were football players, have been killed in Gaza and several football stadiums have been destroyed.
The PFA’s stance gained the full support of the Asian Football Confederation.
A statement from football’s global governing body said on Thursday: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will be mandated to initiate an investigation into the alleged offence of discrimination raised by the PFA.
“The FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee will be entrusted with the mission to investigate – and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on – the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said: “The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts.
“The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations, and as stated at the 74th FIFA Congress, we need peace. As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect.”
Article 4 of FIFA’s statutes prohibits “discrimination of any kind against a country or group of people” and says any breach of this non-discrimination obligation is punishable by “suspension or expulsion”.
In July, Infantino initially postponed making a decision on whether to suspend Israel, saying FIFA needed to consult external legal opinion first.
Israel started its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, when more than 1,000 Israelis were killed. More than 40,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict that followed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Rajoub referenced previous FIFA decisions to suspend teams — including Russia (ongoing), Apartheid-era South Africa and the former Yugoslavia — as precedents for action: “Does FIFA consider some wars to be more important than others and some victims to be more significant?”
In response, IFA president Shino Moshe Zuares dismissed Rajoub’s demand as a “cynical political and hostile attempt to harm Israeli football”.
Israel are scheduled to face France and Italy during the upcoming international break in Group B of League A in UEFA’s Nations League.
(Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
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