On October 11, Israel’s football team will face Norway for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. But at this moment, no one is sure if the match will actually happen.
An UN commission has stated that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asked FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israeli of sports competitions. A UEFA decision can come out next week and there is a perception that there is chances of punishment.
The Israeli team is third in its group and any sanction would practically take their chances of classification to the World Cup. The pressure leaves FIFA in a fair skirt, because of the close relationship between its president, Gianni Infantino, and Donald Trump. The US government has already made it clear that it is contrary to attempts to ban Israel of the tournament, which will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
In the Europa League, Aston Villa x Maccabi Tel Aviv is scheduled for November 6 in Birmingham. The only Israeli team in the European competition played under protests in Greece this week.
Recently, the Madrid stage of the Cycling Spain was interrupted because of pro-Palestinian manifestations. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for Israel’s sports suspension.
Russia and Belarus were banned from international competitions by FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Why didn’t this happen with Israel and other countries at war? What is the criterion of those who organize the Olympic Games and the World Cup? It is not so easy to understand. Both try to make it clear that the issue is not political.
In the case of the Ukraine War, FIFA’s position accompanied political and economic sanctions imposed by much of the world and may have been accelerated because a group of federations would have refused to play against the Russians.
The IOC, on the other hand, stated that the Russian Olympic Committee has violated the Olympic letter by recognizing regional sports organizations in illegally attached areas, violating the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian Olympic Committee. This month, the IOC said it will not ban Israel and that they are different cases from the sports perspective.
The theme puts in check the role of sport in international conflicts and exposes how organizations increasingly have to learn to navigate geopolitical issues. Make it clearer what your criteria are and what violates your statutes, or will continue to be accused of bias and selective ethics.
It is a delicate balance: maintaining political neutrality for the survival of the sports movement or acting; and be criticized by some for being silent and others for the risk of opening precedents.
Deciding whether, in the face of the death of athletes (more than 800, according to the Palestinian Football Association), the sport has a moral obligation to position itself. It seems that there is no definitive answer yet.
The saddest thing is to see that, regardless of what happens next week, nothing will change in practice. Russia’s suspension did not change Vladimir Putin’s attitude over the Ukraine war. Athletes continue to pay – with banings and their own life – by the action of governments.
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