FIFA Boss Gianni Infantino Looks To Harness 'Humanitarian Values' Of Football Amid Calls For Israel Exclusion
FIFA Boss Gianni Infantino Looks To Harness 'Humanitarian Values' Of Football Amid Calls For Israel Exclusion
FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated that the governing body must promote peace and unity and cannot address political issues amid the increasing global demands to suspend Israeli teams from football on Thursday.
Infantino led a meeting of FIFA's ruling council in Zurich, during a tense period for football politics, which did not formally include Israel on the agenda before the 2026 World Cup qualifying games resume next week.
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“FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems, but it can and must promote football around the world by harnessing its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values," Infantino said in the statement.
He later had a private meeting at FIFA headquarters with the leader of the Palestinian football federation, Jibril Rajoub, and commended his organization for their resilience at this time.
European football leaders' strongest push against Israeli teams during the two-year Gaza conflict was paused following a peace proposal on Monday at the White House by U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Infantino emphasized to his 37-member council the importance of promoting peace and unity, particularly in the context of the ongoing situation in Gaza, FIFA said in a news release that did not directly mention Israel.
FIFA did not schedule a news conference and Infantino was unavailable for interviews.
The Israel men's team is now set to play World Cup qualifiers against Norway in Oslo on Oct. 11 and Italy in Udine three days later.
Norway was among European football federations urging UEFA to call a vote of its executive committee ahead of the FIFA meeting in Zurich regarding the suspension of Israeli teams from international competitions. Turkey's football body directly appealed to UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel.
Any vote by the 20-member UEFA panel seemed likely to pass, according to individuals familiar with the discussions, despite opposition from some members, including Israel and Germany.
FIFA and Infantino — who have fostered close ties to Trump ahead of the U.S. co-hosting the World Cup next year with Canada and Mexico — were unlikely to follow any UEFA vote. This prospect became even more remote last week when the U.S. State Department expressed its intent to protect Israel's status in soccer.
The Trump-Netanyahu peace proposal on Monday was promptly welcomed by Middle Eastern governments, including Qatar, a key supporter of the Palestinian people. Qatar's prime minister received an apology from Netanyahu, via telephone from the White House, for a Sept. 9 military strike on Doha targeting Hamas officials.
Qatar also has close commercial and sports political ties to UEFA, whose President Aleksander Ceferin attended the FIFA meeting Thursday. Also present was Nasser al-Khelaifi, the influential head of the 700-member European Club Association network of teams and president of Paris Saint-Germain, the Qatar-owned Champions League titleholder. Al-Khelaifi is also a member of Qatar's government.
Before going to FIFA, Rajoub had been in Switzerland and met Wednesday with International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry in Lausanne.
A post on Infantino's Instagram account mentioned his meeting with Rajoub to “discuss the ongoing situation in the Middle East region."
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There was no mention of progress at FIFA in the two investigations it initiated last year following a formal request by the Palestinian football body to suspend Israel.
FIFA requested a disciplinary investigation into possible discrimination by the Israeli soccer federation and a separate governance panel is examining “the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine." FIFA has not provided a timetable for resolving the two cases.
Source: News18
Related Posts: FIFA, Gianni Infantino, Israel, Palestine, FIFA World Cup 2026
