GENEVA (AP) — European football body UEFA is moving towards a vote to suspend Israel in its member federations in the war in Gaza, people familiar with the proposal told the Associated Press on Thursday.
The majority of UEFA’s 20-member executive committee is expected to support the vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play.
The move is set to resume the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with the Israeli men’s teams away games with Norway and Italy.
Given the close relationship between FIFA leader Gianni Infantino and President Donald Trump, it is unclear whether World Football Body FIFA will support the exclusion of Israel.
Supporting the Trump administration to secure the World Cup and processing visas for players, staff and potentially hundreds of thousands of visiting fans is considered key to FIFA, offering successful tournaments in the US, Canada and Mexico next year.
FIFA’s ruling council will meet in Zurich next week. The 37-member council includes eight from UEFA.
We call for Israel to be excluded from soccer and other sports It’s increasing In recent weeks, amid protests against the humanitarian sacrifices of military campaigns in Gaza. Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel should be banned from international sporting events, like Russia.
UEFA and its president, Alexander Ceferin, gave a more harsh view of Israel last month, saying “stop killing children, stop killing civilians,” when the Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham teams were placed on the field ahead of the Italian Super Cup game.
Israeli Minister of Sports and Culture Miki Zohar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and head of the Israeli football federation, Moshe Zuarez, have worked “behind the scenes” to block efforts to drive Israel out of Ufa, Zohar’s office said. “The right step right now is to act responsibly with the experts and not make a statement. This is how all involved parties involved in the effort are acting, and we’ll explain this later.”
Critics of Israel’s response since October 7, 2023 have consistently pointed out that the Hamas attacks sparked war and that Russia was suspended by FIFA and UEFA within days of Ukraine’s full military invasion in February 2022.
Israel was accused last week Fucking genocide in Gaza by a committee of inquiry commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council.
The Russian ban was also driven by the scope of a coalition of UEFA members who refused to play scheduled games against Russian opponents, including Poland, which was scheduled to go to Moscow for the 2022 World Cup Qualifying Playoffs. FIFA and UEFA discussed later When they win on Russian appeals against the ban that they cannot risk confusion in their own competition, including the World Cup.
Even in Norway and Italian soccer leaders, European national and club teams have not refused to play against Israeli opponents. They publicly expressed their concerns The past few weeks.
Norwegian Football Federation has also committed to providing benefits from ticket sales for the October 11 match in Oslo to humanitarian work in Gaza by doctors without borders.
Both Gabriele Gravina of Italy and Lise Klaveness of Norway have been elected to members of the UEFA Executive Committee, which can vote to halt Israel. Zuarez, the chairman of the Israeli Football Federation, is also on the panel.
___ Associated Press Correspondent Joseph Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
