Is FIFA boycotting? Why is it refusing to impose sanctions on Israel?
Football's international governing body has historically been an ally of oppressive Israel, taking no action against it despite the execution of hundreds of Palestinian footballers.
Argentina is "more ready than ever" to host the World Cup, the FIFA president said in March 1976, two days after the country's military overthrew the government of Isabel Peron in a US-backed coup, beginning a nearly decade-long bloody dictatorship.
Although at least 30,000 people were "annihilated" by the junta of Jorge Rafael Videla, this seemed to be of little consequence to football's international governing body. After the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, FIFA promoted the tournament's main organizer, Navy Vice Admiral Carlos Lacoste, to the position of its vice president.
Later this month, the Israeli national football team is scheduled to begin qualifying matches to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America.
As FIFA continues to resist growing calls to ban national teams from the competition, a reexamination of the organization's dark history sheds light on its role in legitimizing tyranny as an instrument of imperial international order.
FIFA has been turning a blind eye to Israel's illegal occupation since the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) was admitted as a member in 1998. In flagrant violation of FIFA's alleged commitment to international humanitarian law, the Israel Football Association (IFA) has been admitting football clubs based in illegal settlements to its membership for decades. This is a clear violation of the IFA's statutes, which state that "member associations and their clubs may not play in the territory of another member association without its consent."
Meanwhile, the abhorrent behavior of Israeli fans has long been ignored, in violation of FIFA rules. Five years ago, The Economist called Beitar Jerusalem "the most racist football club in Israel" and reported that fans "hurled insults such as 'terrorist' at Arabs playing for rival teams."
In 2017, FIFA insisted that it would not take action against the IFA, insisting that it would remain "neutral in matters of politics and religion." However, Russia was immediately banned from the 2022 World Cup after its invasion of Ukraine. FIFA's motto, "For the Game. For the World," seems to apply only to certain parts of the world.
FIFA was contacted and asked to respond to this article, but no response had been received by the time of publication.
Destruction in Gaza
Gaza's football infrastructure has been severely damaged since October 2023, with Israeli forces killing more than 350 Palestinian footballers. Hani al-Masdar, a 42-year-old player and later coach of the Palestinian Olympic team, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in January 2024.
Two months later, Muhammad Barakat - the "Khan Yunus Legend" who scored over 100 goals - lost his life when his family home was bombed on the first day of Ramadan.
The Yarmouk sports arena in Gaza City, which seats 9,000, was destroyed. For a time, Israeli forces used the facility as a makeshift prison. Dozens of Palestinians were seen kneeling in their underwear, their hands tied behind their backs, as tanks surrounded the stadium. Others were tortured for hours.
By May 2024, the enclave's only undamaged football stadium had become a shelter for thousands of people fleeing northern Gaza. That month, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that he would seek independent legal advice to assess the PFA's request to impose sanctions on Israeli football. Nearly a year later, FIFA has yet to take action.
While football's governing body remains steadfast in its decades-long commitment to legitimizing the crimes of imperialism, the Palestinian flag flies in the stands and stadiums of the world.
The horrors endured by those detained at Yarmouk Stadium are reminiscent of the tragedy at Chile's National Stadium, where dozens of people were executed after General Augusto Pinochet's US-backed coup in September 1973.
Two months later, the Chilean national team lined up on that very same pitch. They were to face the Soviet Union in a crucial qualifier for the 1974 World Cup. However, the Soviets refused to play on the "blood-soaked" pitch. FIFA overruled their objections and ordered the match to go ahead, and the Chileans scored an empty goal to qualify for the World Cup.
When FIFA officials visited the stadium to inspect it before the match, the army hid the dictatorship's prisoners from view. According to prisoners who remained in the stands, the inspectors were "only interested in the quality of the grass."
Colonial weapon
Since its creation by European nations in 1904, FIFA has served as a means of legitimizing the colonial system that has subjugated the Global South to the West. Far from being the great equalizer, international football has long exposed the contradictions of a "rules-based international order" designed to funnel wealth and resources from one part of the world to another.
It was this Eurocentrism that led to the only organized boycott of a World Cup by an entire continent in FIFA history. Africa withdrew from the 1966 tournament in protest at the unequal distribution of places for the championship: while Europe was offered 10 places, the countries of Africa, Asia and Oceania had to compete for just one.
Under the leadership of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah and inspired by the wave of decolonization sweeping the continent, every member of the Confederation of African Football withdrew from qualifying. They were later fined by FIFA for this decision. The African boycott was effective, and four years later, the continent was awarded a special place in the 1970 World Cup.
Israel's efforts to dismantle football organizations in Gaza should be understood as a sign of the Israeli military's ongoing war against every aspect of Palestinian existence.
This violence was matched only by the steadfast resistance of the Palestinian people. In January 2024, just days after Masdar's assassination, the national team made history by reaching the knockout stages of the Asian Cup for the first time. This resistance to ethnic cleansing demands solidarity from the football world.
Last month, fans of Glasgow's Celtic football club called on FIFA to "show Israel a red card." Since then, the Green Brigade's call has echoed around the world, from Spain to Morocco to Ireland.
While football's governing body continues its decades-long commitment to legitimizing the crimes of imperialism, stadiums around the world are waving the Palestinian flag.
Coll McKale , writer and community activist based in Scotland
