PALESTINE — Dozens of sports professionals have joined human rights organizations in urging the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to suspend Israel, citing violations against Palestinians, including the two-year genocide in Gaza, apartheid, and other human rights abuses.
In a Tuesday letter delivered to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin , Athletes for Peace, a group that includes more than 70 athletes, backed calls for the governing body to cut ties with the Israel Football Association (IFA).
The athletes who endorsed the call include French World Cup winner Paul Pogba, Dutch forward Anwar El Ghazi, Moroccan player Hakim Ziyech and Spanish winger Adama Traore.
“No shared venue, stage, or arena in international civil society should welcome a regime that commits genocide, apartheid, and other crimes against humanity,” the letter, penned by Game Over Israel, read.
“Israel’s continued impunity for such crimes will only be ended by the weight of collective conscientious action, including measures to block their entry to sporting or cultural events and activities.”
Human rights advocacy groups, including the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Gaza Tribunal, also signed the letter.
There have been growing call demanding that UEFA ban Israel from its events, citing crimes committed during the genocide in Gaza.
In September, Turkish Football Federation president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu also backed the call for suspending Israel from European football. The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) passed a similar resolution earlier this month.
Israel has waged a two-year genocidal war in Gaza, killing more than 69,000 Palestinians, including 421 footballers, and destroying over 81 percent of all structures. Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been displaced. The war has also damaged Gaza’s sports infrastructure, wiping out stadiums, training facilities, and other vital resources for athletes.
Moreover, Israel continues to entrench its occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem, imposing a regime that the International Court of Justice says is “tantamount to the crime of apartheid”.
The rights groups’ letter argued that Israel has used football to legitimise its occupation in those areas.
Israel, for example, allows clubs from illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank to participate in its professional leagues, in an apparent violation of FIFA rules.
“The participation of teams from illegal settlements in Israeli football leagues is a breach of fundamental principles of international law,” Tuesday’s letter read.
“UEFA’s relationship with the IFA – providing funding and allowing Israeli teams to play in international tournaments – means that UEFA may also be facilitating these violations and may themselves be accountable.”
Tuesday’s letter to UEFA stressed that banning a country that violates international law would not be unprecedented; it is, in fact, the norm.
“It is well-known that football governance bodies, such as UEFA, have historically suspended states from football for egregious violations of international law – apartheid South Africa, post-war Germany, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and more recently, Russia,” it said.
“We urge you to follow international law and moral precedent and suspend Israel immediately.”
In 2024, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) presented arguments accusing the Israel Football Association (IFA) of violating FIFA statutes with its war on Gaza and the inclusion of clubs located in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in its domestic football league.
The PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israel’s national side and club teams, including an international ban. — QNN
