Uefa members in favour of banning Israel from European football next week

The Times revealed last month that several European clubs had asked Uefa if there was any way they could avoid playing Israeli opponents.

A suspension of Israel by Uefa would increase the pressure on Fifa to follow suit, but football’s world governing body is in a difficult position because of the close relationship between its president, Gianni Infantino, and Donald Trump.

President Trump and the White House would be very unhappy at the prospect of Infantino and Fifa suspending Israel before next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

However, even if Fifa did not suspend Israel, a ban by Uefa should effectively mean that Israel cannot qualify for next year’s tournament as Uefa runs the European qualifying competition for the World Cup. That could even suit Infantino, who also has very close ties with Arab nations including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, whose capital city, Doha, was the subject of a bomb attack by Israeli drones earlier this month.

Sources said it was an unprecedented situation because although the qualifying competition is a Fifa event, Uefa staff run the tournament. A Uefa ban would, however, give Norway and Italy — Israel’s opponents in their group and federations who have been pushing strongly for suspension — a reason not to play them, similar to a number of countries, including England refusing to play Russia.

Trump’s administration has spelled out its opposition to a suspension of Israel affecting its tournament. A state department spokesman told Sky News: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”

There have been reports in the Israeli media saying both Qatar and the US have tried to put different pressures on Uefa, but it is understood that has not been the case.

However a statement from the United Nations Human Rights Office this week has been significant. It said a panel of UN experts called on Fifa and Uefa “to suspend Israel as a country team from international football, as a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory”.

“Sports must reject the perception that it is business as usual,” the experts added. “Sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalise injustices.

“We are clear that the boycott must be addressed to the State of Israel and not to individual players. We have always maintained that individuals cannot bear the consequences of the decisions their government makes, so there should be no discrimination or sanctions against individual players because of their origin or nationality.

“National teams representing states that commit massive human rights violations can, and should, be suspended, as has happened in the past.”

Israel are in third place in World Cup qualification Group I, behind the leaders, Norway, and Italy. Norway’s FA had said it would donate any profits from the next World Cup qualifying game against Israel in Oslo on October 11 to humanitarian aid in Gaza, but there is now a very strong risk that the match will not take place. Norway’s players are also understood to feel very strongly about events in Gaza.

Lise Klaveness, the Norwegian federation’s president, said last month: “Neither we nor other organisations can remain indifferent to the humanitarian suffering and disproportionate attacks that the civilian population in Gaza has been subjected to for a long time.”

Aston Villa are due to host Maccabi Tel Aviv on November 6 in the Europa League. They are the only Israeli side involved in European club competition and encountered protests when they played the Greek side PAOK in Thessaloniki on Wednesday.

After Russia were banned in February 2022 they were removed from the play-offs for that year’s World Cup, while Portugal replaced the Russian women’s team at the European Championship.

There are no English members of Uefa’s executive committee now since David Gill stepped down in April but the FA chairwoman, Debbie Hewitt, sits on it as an observer in her position as a Uefa-elected Fifa vice-president. The former Wales women’s captain, Laura McAllister, is a Uefa vice-president

Uefa’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, is from Slovenia, which on Thursday became the first EU country to impose a travel ban on Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister.

The Palestinian FA, which is recognised by Fifa, has been urging the world governing body to take the same action for two years but the issue has never previously gone to a vote.

Meanwhile, the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team is coming under pressure from sponsors to drop ‘Israel’ from its name. It was at the centre of several protests during the Vuelta a España Grand Tour in Spain.

The Canadian company Premier Tech said it “expects the team to evolve towards a new name excluding ‘Israel’, leading to a new identity and branding for the team” as “the current situation regarding the team’s name is no longer tenable”.

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