Can FIFA and UEFA Isolate 'Israel' From International Sporting Competitions?

Following Israeli war on Gaza, which has since killed over 65,000 Palestinians, The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has received numerous calls for “Israel” to be banned from all competitions, just like how Russia was banned following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

FIFA had previously suspended South Africa in 1961 due to its apartheid policy, and Yugoslavia in 1992 due to the Balkan war.

While UEFA's President Aleksander Ceferin has defended the decision not to ban “Israel”, it has not stopped football fans, officials, and nations from calling for a sports boycott.

Such calls have made it into international soccer, with some groups and teams publicly protesting against having to face Israeli opponents. 

UEFA displayed a giant banner reading 'Stop Killing Children — Stop Killing Civilians' at the start of last month’s Super Cup final, flouting its own rules, which prohibit political, ideological, and religious messages from being displayed in stadiums before, during, or after matches.

Soccer is the most popular sport in “Israel”, and an exclusion from European events would deal almost a deathblow to Israeli soccer and be followed by similar decisions in other sports, according to Shlomi Barzel, head of communication at the “Israel” Football Association (IFA).

Israeli Occupation's Isolation

UEFA is under intense pressure to hold a vote this month on expelling Israel from all its events, with Israeli officials scrambling to prevent this.

Hebrew media reported that Qatar - one of UEFA's donors- is pushing for a vote to be held this month on the national team's place in its competitions following Israel's strike on Doha.

They said the proposal was sure to pass if it were brought to a vote since only two or three of the 20 voting countries are steadfastly opposed to Israel’s ouster.

UEFA's Executive Committee has the authority to suspend a member if it finds there has been a serious breach of UEFA statutes, regulations, or decisions. 

The decision requires a vote by all committee members and needs a three-quarters majority to be successful.

UEFA's official website states their next meeting is scheduled for December 3. However, the report states Qatar is pressing for an emergency meeting. 

UEFA and Qatar have a close relationship, with the Middle East state's flagship airline, Qatar Airways, extending its six-year sponsorship deal with the governing body last year, worth a reported £436 million.

The IFA was working around the clock and recruiting allies and friends of Israel in the sports and diplomatic worlds -such as Germany and Hungary- to work to prevent the vote.

Israel’s national team is currently competing in a UEFA-organized qualifying tournament for next year’s FIFA World Cup. 

Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv is set to compete in this season’s UEFA Europa League, with the first match set for this week against Greece’s PAOK FC.

On September 16, a coalition of human rights organizations and fan groups launched a new campaign in New York's Times Square under the slogan ‘Game Over Israel’.

The campaign called on European football federations to boycott “Israel” and bar it from international competitions, months before the start of the 2026 World Cup.

The campaign to isolate “Israel” from FIFA stems from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which previously attempted to prevent UEFA from hosting the 2013 European Under-21 Championship in “Israel”.

Although the campaign failed, it caused enough controversy to lead UEFA to not choose Jerusalem as a host city for Euro 2020.

With the exception of the International Muaythai Federation, Israeli athletes have not been banned from competing under their national flag.

Double Standards

It has been over a year since FIFA rejected the Palestinian Football Association's request to suspend “Israel” from international football competitions.

According to the president of the Palestinian Football Association, Jibril Rajoub, Israeli crimes have affected hundreds of Palestinian athletes, with 774 Palestinians killed, including 355 football players, and 119 missing. 

The Israeli military's killing machine also claimed the lives of 15 sports media professionals, while 288 sports facilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were completely or partially destroyed.

As international condemnation mounts, FIFA and UEFA continue to adhere to the principle of keeping politics out of sports, arguing that their primary objective is to protect competitions from disruption.

They claimed that no legal grounds exist for taking action against Israel, as was done with Russia, but offered no detailed explanations.

The International Olympic Committee asserted that Israel had not violated the Olympic Charter, unlike Russia when it annexed territories in eastern Ukraine.

Despite all the pressure, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin's response fell short of expectations. His words were neither clear nor decisive, amounting to a diplomatic evasion of the issue.

“In principle, I am not in favor of preventing athletes from participating in competitions because they are not responsible for the wars waged by their countries,” he said.

Despite this stance, UEFA has attempted some symbolic gestures to mitigate criticism.

During the UEFA Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham in Udine, Italy, on August 13, children from Gaza joined Ceferin on the podium.

A large banner bearing the message ‘Stop Killing Children — Stop Killing Civilians’, was also displayed, without explicitly mentioning the conflict.

This move sparked considerable outrage in Israel, where criticism was directed at IFA President Moshe Zuares, a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, for allowing the banner to be displayed. 

On September 16, for the first time, an international fact-finding commission, mandated by the United Nations, accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza since October 2023, with the aim of destroying the Palestinian people, amid growing international protests.

UN experts recently called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend “Israel” as a country team from international football, as a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The experts stressed that countries in which international organizations are based, countries that hold competitions, and those engaging in sporting competitions with “Israel”, must consider their own obligations not to remain neutral in the face of genocide.

“Sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalize injustices,” they said. 

Speaking at the Together 4 Palestine event in London a few days ago, Man United legend Eric Cantona said: “Four days after Russia started a war in Ukraine, FIFA and UEFA suspended Russia. We are now 716 days into what Amnesty International have called a genocide – and yet Israel continue to be allowed to participate.”

“Why is it double standards? FIFA and UEFA must suspend Israel. Clubs and players everywhere must refuse to play Israeli teams,” he added.

“We all remember apartheid in South Africa. The Sporting boycott was critical in ending it. We have power. It's time for everyone to get off the sidelines,” he noted. 

Major Shift

Several European sports federations have recently complained about being forced to play against Israeli teams, stating that they have no other option since Israel has not been banned from participating in international competitions.

In turn, British MP Ayoub Khan from Birmingham called on UEFA to immediately cancel the match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League, scheduled for November 6.

This followed statements by Patxi Lopez, the spokesperson for the Socialist Party in the Spanish Parliament, who hinted that Spain might boycott the 2026 World Cup if the Israeli national team qualifies.

In Madrid on September 16, the final stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race was also canceled due to protests against the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team.

Following the chaotic end of the race, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez raised the level of criticism of Israeli policies.

“The time has come to exclude Israel from international sporting events until the brutality in Gaza ends,” he said.

Last week, in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, dozens of protesters gathered to block the path of fans heading to the opening match of the European Baseball Championship between France and “Israel”.

The recent match between the Italian and Israeli national teams in European qualifying for the 2026 World Cup also witnessed an unexpected moment of tension after the final whistle, when a scuffle broke out between Gennaro Gattuso, the Italian coach, and several members of the Israeli team. 

Gattuso's pre-match statements caused a stir when he said: “It pains me to see civilians and children losing their lives, but Israel is in our group and we have to play the match.”  

After the match, he reiterated that his national team was unlucky to be playing against “Israel”.

The Norwegian Football Federation angered its Israeli counterpart by announcing that it would donate the proceeds from its national team's upcoming match against Israel to Doctors Without Borders to support its humanitarian work in Gaza.

The FIBA EuroBasket Tournament held in Poland last month saw protests against the participation of the Israeli team, with boos echoing during the playing of the Israeli national anthem.

Last year, the streets of Amsterdam witnessed violent clashes with fans of the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv during a football match.

In tennis, Canada hosted “Israel” in the Davis Cup last weekend in Halifax behind closed doors due to growing security concerns.

This move came after hundreds of Canadian athletes and academics urged the Canadian Tennis Association to cancel the matches, protesting Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank.

In 2023, Indonesia lost the right to host the FIFA U-20 World Cup after refusing to allow “Israel” to participate in matches on its territory. 

The growing wave of reactions within the sports world against Israel and its exposure of its crimes reflects a significant shift in the sports community's, particularly football's, approach to the atrocities being committed in Gaza. 

It also underscores the need for a unified standard of conduct towards any state that commits such crimes.

Sports journalist Ahmed Gomaa told Al-Estiklal that the international football community's stance towards “Israel” is based more on pragmatism than justice. 

“However, sports cannot be detached from what happens in the world, especially when human rights are violated,” he said.

He noted that “Israel” and FIFA keep repeating the phrase ‘sports and politics should be separate’, but this is merely an excuse that “Israel” uses to justify its violations against Palestinians and their sports, while FIFA uses it to justify its blatant bias towards “Israel” and its double standards.

He explained that “allowing Israeli athletes to participate in international competitions is not only a legal violation, but also a moral lapse, especially given that approximately 30 members of Israel's delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympics are either serving in the Israeli army or have publicly expressed support for the genocide in Gaza.”