Israel’s future in Uefa could come to a head before October World Cup qualifiers

Uefa could decide as early as next week whether to suspend Israel from its competitions, with the governing body facing growing pressure from inside and outside the game.

Reports on Thursday, initially in the Times, suggested a vote that would determine Israel’s participation in World Cup qualifying and that of Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League could be held by Uefa’s executive committee before the international break begins on 6 October.

Uefa said there were no meetings scheduled for next week, with the next exco gathering scheduled for 3 December. But sources from inside national federations said events appeared to be coming to a head and that Uefa and its president, Aleksander Ceferin, were increasingly expected to take action.

The news comes after an increasing number of interventions from outside the game. On Tuesday a group of senior diplomats called on Uefa and Fifa to enact a ban after the publication of a report by the United Nations independent international commission of inquiry that found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Last week the campaign group Game Over Israel took over a billboard in New York City’s Times Square to call for federations to boycott any matches with the country. It is understood that voices within the game have also been speaking up in private, including those from the club world.

Italy is one of the nations under growing pressure to act. The Azzurri, alongside Norway, are due to face Israel in the next round of qualifiers, with their match scheduled for 14 October in Udine. The country is fresh from a 24-hour general strike in protest against Israel’s behaviour in Gaza. Gabriele Gravina, the president of the Italian football federation, who also sits on the Uefa exco, said this week that any boycott “would only favour Israel, who could in theory be boosted in their qualifying path to the tournament”. But Gravina also said he “denounced” the suffering in Gaza and that “there is nobody who could be indifferent to this feeling of suffering and pain”.

Any decision to suspend the Israel Football Association would be taken in a simple majority vote by the 19 members of Uefa’s exco. Insiders suggest if it were proposed, the vote would have a strong chance of passing with as few as three or four possible abstentions or votes against. It could, however, have numerous political consequences.

The United States government, for example, has warned that it would stand against any such decision, with the country co-hosting the World Cup next summmer. “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup,” a spokesperson for the US Department of State told Sky News.

Any suspension, meanwhile, would mean Uefa potentially removing a participant from a Fifa-organised competition. Fifa, under its president, Gianni Infantino, has developed a strong relationship with the Trump administration. The global governing body is investigating allegations of football teams staging matches in illegal settlements in the West Bank, a review which follows a request by the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) in 2024.

On Thursday Jibril Rajoub, the president of the PFA, said he was to meet Ceferin and Kirsty Coventry, the president of the International Olympic Committee, to discuss the issue next week. “I believe that Israelis should not be allowed to participate in any matches, whether they are Uefa- or Fifa-regulated,” he told TV2 in Norway. “Israel has violated principles, values and Fifa’s statutes. Therefore, I believe that Israel should be sanctioned. I hope Uefa will follow the spirit of the statutes.”

Outside football, the sponsor of the Israel Premier Tech cycling team has called for the team to change its name, after riders were targeted by protesters at the recent Vuelta a España, causing disruption to the Grand Tour event. It was estimated more than 100,000 people were on the streets in Madrid during the final stage, with protesters criticising the presence of the Israel Premier Tech team. In a statement reported by Radio Canada, Premier Tech said: “The current situation regarding the team name is no longer sustainable to achieve our goal.”