"FIFA touts a commitment to staying 'neutral in matters of politics' and claims that 'discrimination of any kind...is strictly prohibited and punishable,' but under the rule of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, neutrality means the powerful win."
"In 2024, the United Nations pinpointed at least eight Israeli soccer clubs that have either developed or staged matches 'in Israeli colonial settlements of the occupied West Bank.'"
"Human Rights Watch has been providing evidence for a decade that the Israel Football Association has organized matches on 'settlements in the West Bank on land unlawfully taken from Palestinians.'"
FIFA's recent decisions regarding the Israel Football Association reveal a troubling bias towards powerful entities, contradicting its claims of political neutrality. The Palestinian Football Association's complaint about matches on illegally annexed land in the West Bank is supported by evidence from the UN and human rights organizations. Despite this, FIFA's Governance, Audit, and Compliance Committee concluded that no action was necessary, indicating a failure to uphold its own statutes and a disregard for human rights commitments, raising concerns for future events like the World Cup.
Read at The Nation
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