• Pressure is mounting on sporting bodies to act as Israeli clubs remain active in European competitions and its national team is playing World Cup qualifiers
• ‘It remains to be seen whether FIFA and UEFA will choose to abide by the human rights principles they so vociferously trumpet,’ says former footballer Jules Boykoff
• ‘There is no place for a state committing the high crime of genocide in international sport,’ says Nathan Kalman-Lamb of the University of New Brunswick

ISTANBUL 

Momentum is building for Israel’s suspension from international football, with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) increasingly under pressure to hold a vote on whether to bar the Israeli national team and its clubs from competing.

The calls have multiplied in recent days, spurred by appeals from UN experts, national football federations and political leaders, who argue that Israel’s actions in Gaza are incompatible with the values of international sport.

Last week, UN experts urged the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and UEFA to suspend Israel’s participation, describing it as a “necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.”

Pressure is also coming from inside the game. Turkish Football Federation President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu has written directly to FIFA, UEFA and national federations worldwide, urging them to exclude Israel from all competitions.

In Spain, protests earlier this month disrupted a major cycling race that featured an Israeli team. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez followed up by calling on sports bodies to reflect on whether Israel is using international tournaments to “whitewash” its image – especially, he noted, when Russia was swiftly banned after invading Ukraine.

Academics and sport historians are also weighing in.

“There is no place for a state committing the high crime of genocide in international sport,” Nathan Kalman-Lamb, an associate professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick in Canada, told Anadolu.

But the debate is also shaped by geopolitics, with Washington warning it will oppose any move to block Israel from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which the US is set to co-host with Canada and Mexico.  

Why campaigners want a ban

Rights groups and scholars say the case for suspension is clear.

“For nearly two years, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, a fact now acknowledged by nearly every human rights organization in the world, including Israel’s own, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the United Nations,” said Kalman-Lamb, author of Game Misconduct: Injury, Fandom, and the Business of Sport.

“What is clear is that a relative consensus has formed among the world’s population that what Israel is doing is unacceptable and must be stopped.”

Jules Boykoff, a former professional footballer and professor of political science at Pacific University in Oregon, said a political turning point has been reached.

Several Western countries recently recognized the Palestinian state and citizens around the globe are increasingly outraged by the crippling siege and Israel’s unceasing attacks on the civilian population and infrastructure.

“Sport is politics by other means, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see more and more people wondering aloud why Israel has been allowed to continue to participate in World Cup qualifier matches when Israeli government actions clash mightily with the human rights principles that FIFA espouses,” he said.

Boykoff added that even within the narrow realm of football, Israel is violating FIFA rules “by holding domestic club matches in the West Bank without the approval of Palestinians.”  

Could UEFA really ban Israel?

UEFA, which governs European football, is now reportedly under pressure from several member associations to act.

British publication The Times has even reported that a vote could come as early as this week and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been campaigning against it.

Israel’s national team is currently in the qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup, with a match against Norway scheduled for Oct. 11 in Oslo.

Its top club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, is due to face Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League on Oct. 2.

“UEFA has the power to exclude Israel from competitions based on human rights considerations, and they have taken similar action when it comes to Russia,” said Boykoff.

“But it remains to be seen whether FIFA and UEFA will choose to abide by the human rights principles they so vociferously trumpet.” 

What a ban would mean

If UEFA’s executive committee votes to suspend Israel, the consequences would be immediate and sweeping.

The national team would be barred from European qualifying rounds for the 2026 World Cup.

“It would effectively be excluded unless something extraordinary were to happen. Likewise, I would expect its club teams also to be banned from European competition,” said Kalman-Lamb.

To do so, UEFA would need a majority of votes from its 20-member executive committee.

For critics, a ban would carry enormous weight.

“No nation wants to be excluded from global sport because of the amount of meaning that people invest in it and the capacity nations have to perform their identity on the global stage,” Kalman-Lamb added.

Experts compare the situation to apartheid-era South Africa, which was barred from the World Cup and most major tournaments from the early 1960s until the early 1990s.

“As we saw in the case of South Africa, banning a state that engages in practices that violate international law, such as apartheid and genocide, both of which Israel is guilty of, can force the population in those states to rethink their commitment to morally and legally indefensible projects,” said Kalman-Lamb.

A sporting ban, he added, could also embolden politicians in Western countries who favor broader sanctions, signifying a shift in global consensus on Israel’s actions.

UEFA and FIFA did not respond to Anadolu’s requests for comments on potential actions against Israel.  

US pushback

On the other side of the Atlantic, however, Israel has powerful defenders.

The US has openly opposed any effort to block Israel from international competition.

“We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup,” a State Department spokesperson told The New York Times’ The Athletic.

The 2026 tournament, set for June 11 to July 19 across cities in the US, Canada and Mexico, gives Washington a clear stake in the outcome.

“It does not surprise me that the US would threaten to intervene, given that they are Israel’s top collaborator in genocide,” said Kalman-Lamb.

“That said, the US has no jurisdiction or authority over UEFA, and so any pressure they can, and clearly are, trying to apply is only indirect. We are about to find out if it will work.”

FIFA also appears to be a strong backer of Israel in the World Cup, he added.

“It is not beyond the realm of possibility that they try to cook up an alternative avenue through which Israel might qualify,” he said.