The Seattle Sounders fans said goodbye to the Club World Cup on Monday (23), in the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Seattle, but not first displaying, in an international match, his political engagement and his willingness to defend Palestine.
Showing Palestinian flags, the home fans took a significant sector of Lumen Field with the demonstration, thus increasing the pressure on FIFA (International Football Federation), organizer of the competition.
Several international sectors have seen a lack of criterion in the decisions of the maximum football entity. The charge is for the exclusion of Israel from all international competitions, because of his attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as was done with Russia after the beginning of the Ukraine War.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations had already occurred in the Champions League final on May 31 at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Paris Saint-Germain fans displayed the words “Stop Genocide in Gaza” and chanted similar songs of content.
Acts of the type have been recorded in various parts of the world. Rather isolated in team games such as Celtic, Scotland, and Chilean’s Palestinian Deportivo, the protests have gained stages of greater repercussions, as happened at Champions and now occurs at the Club World Cup.
In the case of FIFA -organized competition, the demonstration gains another meaning because it occurs in the United States, an ally of Israel’s ally. The American performance in another Israel conflict against Iran has expanded tensions in the host country of the World Cup.
FIFA’s disciplinary code prohibits political manifestations, which is not always a hindrance to Seattle Sounders fans. Club leaders have been dealing for years with pressures from MLS (Major League Soccer, the United States Football League) and Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central and Caribbean America Football Associations) because of acts with political content.
In 2017, Sounders fans were expelled from a MLS match in Vancouver for displaying posters with the words “Anti -Racist, Antifascist, always Seattle.”
After a Pro-Palestinian act in October 2023, in a game against Dallas FC, Seattle Sounders was obliged to officially update the fans’ code of conduct, specifically prohibiting ranges with position on this topic.
Days after the announcement of the new rule, musician Macklemore, winner of a Grammy, whose family has a minority participation in Sounders’ actions, expressed their support for the Palestinian people in a Washington rally.
