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FIFA defers decision on appeal to ban Israel
Following a meeting at its headquarters in Zurich on Thursday, the Federation Internationale de Football Association – FIFA, football’s world governing body – said its disciplinary committee will review the allegations of discrimination that have been raised by the Palestinian Football Association (PFA).
“The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will be mandated to initiate an investigation into the alleged offence of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association,” FIFA said in a statement.
“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 council had implemented “due diligence” on the matter and followed the advice of independent experts.
In May, the PFA presented arguments accusing the Israel Football Association (IFA) of violating FIFA statutes with its war on Gaza and its inclusion of teams located in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in its domestic league.
The PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israel’s national side and club teams, including an international ban.
FIFA had passed the issue to independent legal advisers who carried out an evaluation and compiled a response.
This is not the first time that FIFA has deferred a ruling. It had promised to address the issue at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July, but deferred the decision until its last council on August 31. It then moved its decision to its October meeting.
Katarina Pijetlovic, head of the PFA’s legal department, termed FIFA’s decision “purely political”.
“FIFA allowed Israel FA to continue using the Palestinian territory [occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem] as their own territory, and to use football under its umbrella as an instrument of colonial expansion,” she wrote in a post on X.
“Will we wait two yrs again, as in 2015-17, for the committee to suggest the obvious and then have their suggestion rejected again?”