Israel faces calls for football ban as Euro qualifying playoffs approach
Backed by six other member associations, the Palestinian Football Association put forth a proposal to adopt sanctions against Israel at upcoming FIFA 74th Congress.
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“Star after star rises to the sky as martyrs.”
This is how the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) announced that Palestinian football legend Mohammed Barakat had been killed in an Israeli bombing of his house in Khan Younis.
Barakat, Gaza’s first centurion of goals and a former national team player known as the “Legend of Khan Younis,” was killed on March 11—the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. Shortly before he was killed, Barakat released a tearful message on social media, bidding farewell to his loved ones while bombs could be heard falling in the background.
“I ask for forgiveness and for your prayers,” the 39-year-old Barakat said. “My mother and father, you are beloved and precious to me. Finally, my children, my beloved, I entrust you to God.
“This is where I end.”
Barakat is among the hundreds of Palestinian athletes who have been killed since October 7. According to a report published by the PFA on March 17, no less than 99 footballers, including 26 children, have been killed as a result of Israeli violence. Among those killed was Hany Al-Masdar, a former player and manager of the Olympic team.
Amid the ongoing destruction of Gaza, and the grave human rights and humanitarian law violations committed by Israel, the PFA has sent an official request to propose an agenda item at the next FIFA Congress to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on May 17, 2024.
The proposal implores the Congress to:
1. Adopt appropriate sanctions, with immediate effect, against Israeli teams, including national representative teams and club teams, due to the international law violations committed by the Israeli occupation in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.
2. Address without further delay the IFA’s violation of the FIFA statutes manifest in its continued inclusion of football teams located on the territory of another association (Palestine) in its national league.
3. Address the repeated failure of the IFA in taking decisive action against discrimination and racism, in the areas under its jurisdiction.
The proposal also raised a series of breaches of the FIFA statues being committed by the Israeli Football Association (IFA), including the IFA’s incorporation of “illegal settlement clubs located in the territory of the PFA into its national league, which is a material violation of several articles of the FIFA statutes.” The proposal also stated that the IFA was complicit in the Israeli government’s abuses against Palestinian football—including the destruction of Gaza’s football infrastructure—by providing “moral, economic, and practical support to the occupation.”
“In light of the ongoing global tensions and sentiments surrounding the situation in Gaza, there is a legitimate concern that some football associations may refuse to play against Israel, jeopardizing the efficient organization and smooth running of matches,” the PFA statement concluded.
Though the FIFA Congress is still a couple of months away, the PFA proposal was publicized in the lead-up to Israel’s upcoming Euro 2024 qualifying playoff games, which begin on March 21. Israel is scheduled to face Iceland on Thursday, the winner of which will meet either Ukraine or Bosnia-Herzegovina next Tuesday.
Israel has never qualified for a European Championship since joining UEFA 30 years ago. And though the PFA suggested that some football federations would refuse to play against Israel due to the ongoing war on Gaza, no UEFA member have joined that list yet.
Nevertheless, FIFA’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raise questions about the lack of similar actions taken against Israel amid its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Last week, Fair Square, a human rights research and advocacy group focusing on migrant worker rights, accountable sport and political repression, sent a letter to UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin requesting clarification on the rules guiding UEFA’s suspension of teams.
The letter states that there is a “clear and obvious double standard, and one which appears to stem from arbitrary and ad hoc rule-making. In that regard, we would appreciate your prompt clarification of the following points:
Has UEFA drawn up any rules or solicited any expert legal advice to guide its conduct in response to gross violations of international law by states with UEFA member associations?
Does UEFA have an official position or policy on whether and when violations of international law should result in the suspension of a country’s national and club teams from UEFA competition? If not, does it plan to develop such a policy?
Is it UEFA’s official position that because Israel’s actions in Gaza are a response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October, UEFA will not sanction Israel regardless of how unlawful or how disproportionate its reprisals in Gaza?”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian national team is also scheduled to complete in an upcoming match on March 21 against Bangladesh as part of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 joint qualifiers. The return leg will take place on March 26.
The Palestinian national team took part in a training camp in Saudi Arabia before arriving in Kuwait ahead of the qualifying match. As the team is forced to prepare abroad, Israeli forces continue to destroy Gaza’s remaining football infrastructure.
Last week, Palestinian authorities unveiled satellite images revealing the devastation of the Khan Younis Municipal Stadium. The stadium was among the oldest in Gaza and once bore the name of Egypt’s former president Gamal Abdel Nasser, having been built in 1952 during Egypt’s occupation of Gaza.
Accompanying the images was a caption stating: “They are trying in vain to erase the place and the person.”
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