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22-03-2026
GENEVA: FIFA fined the Israeli Football Association (IFA) 150,000 Swiss francs ($190,700) for “multiple breaches” of its anti-discrimination obligations.
A report on Thursday by the disciplinary committee of world football’s governing body found the IFA “failed to take meaningful action against Beitar Jerusalem” for “persistent and well-documented racist behavior”.
In October 2024, the Palestine Football Association reported allegations of discrimination by the IFA to FIFA, which initiated an investigation.
FIFA did not opt for the sanction requested by the Palestinian FA, which argued for a suspension of the IFA but the IFA was found to have failed to “abide by FIFA’s statutory objectives”, in a lengthy decision published by its disciplinary committee, which listed several racism incidents in Israeli football.
The disciplinary committee highlighted “deficient and substantively inadequate” sanctions against Israeli club Beitar for racist and discriminatory behavior.
“Supporters have engaged in persistent and well-documented racist behavior,” the report said of Beitar fans.
“The club’s use of slogans such as ‘forever pure’, and the repeated chanting of ethnic slurs such as ‘terrorist’ directed at Arab players, are not isolated incidents but rather form part of a systemic pattern of conduct that offends the basic rules of decent behavior and brings the sport into disrepute.
“The committee underlined that said club is only a small example of a general failure by the IFA.” FIFA also said the IFA was issued with a warning and was ordered to display a “significant and highly visible banner” at its next three FIFA competition home matches, stating “Football Unites the World, No to Discrimination”.
The IFA will have to invest one-third of the fine towards implementing a plan to “ensure action against discrimination and to prevent repeated incidents”.
After a separate investigation, FIFA announced no action would be taken against the IFA over allegations that Israeli clubs based in the occupied West Bank were taking part in Israel’s leagues.
The Palestinian soccer federation has urged FIFA to act against Israel for supporting clubs in its national league from settlement communities in the West Bank.
FIFA’s council decided Thursday on advice from the governing body’s governance panel not to act on formal Palestinian complaints in 2024 against its Israeli counterpart, including a request to suspend membership.
Palestinian soccer officials have long argued including at FIFA annual congresses across the past 15 years, before Infantino was president that Israel violates statutes by letting teams from settlements in the West Bank play in the national league.
“FIFA should take no action given that, in the context of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the FIFA Statutes, the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved and highly complex matter under public international law,” the soccer body said.
FIFA wants Iran in the US at World Cup
Infantino reiterated FIFA is not moving toward granting Iranian requests to move the team’s three World Cup group games in June from the United States to Mexico.
Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to come to the U.S. because of military attacks on the country by Israel and U.S. since Feb. 28.
The team is due to play two games at the Los Angeles Rams’ stadium in Inglewood and one in Seattle.
“We have a schedule,” Infantino said in a statement Thursday about the World Cup fixtures announced in December, adding “we want the FIFA World Cup to go ahead as scheduled.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
