As the world witnesses the systematic destruction of Gaza and the suffering of Palestinians, FIFA, an organisation that claims to unite the world through “the beautiful game”, remains silent.
Worse, it delays, downplays, and hides the truth. In the face of one of the century’s gravest humanitarian crises, FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, have chosen passive complicity, placing political and financial interests above justice, human rights, and the spirit of football.
In 2024, the Palestinian Football Association formally requested Israel’s expulsion from FIFA, citing clear violations of international law and FIFA’s own rules. Instead of acting, FIFA repeatedly delayed, four times, missing every chance to deliver justice. Four silences that protected impunity as stadiums were bombed, players killed, and generations of Palestinian athletes erased.
An independent legal review was promised, with a decision expected by July 2024. It was then postponed to August, then October. At that meeting, rather than suspend Israel, Infantino called for more “reports” and formed ineffective committees, tools to bury urgency. The message was clear: Palestinian football can wait; Palestinian suffering is not a priority.
Since the Israeli offensive began in October 2023, Gaza has become a graveyard of dreams. Beyond hospitals and schools, people’s culture, art, and sport are being destroyed. Stadiums like Khan Younis and Yarmouk, along with countless community fields, lie in ruins. Leagues have halted, and sports infrastructure has vanished.
Worst of all, players themselves have been killed, not on the pitch, but in their homes with family. By January 2025, over 369 Palestinian footballers had died in Gaza. Imad Abu Tima was executed alongside nine relatives. Mohammed Barakat, a national icon, was reduced to another number on a growing list of victims. Each had a dream. Each saw football as refuge and hope.
“I was on the Palestinian national team before losing my leg. I was shot in both legs during the 2018 Gaza protests,” said Hazem Suleiman, now an international paracyclist.
All have been abandoned by the institutions meant to protect them.
In the West Bank, raids destroy sports centres and players face arbitrary imprisonment. The occupation blurs politics and sport, any standout Palestinian becomes a target. Where is FIFA? Where are its campaigns against discrimination? Where are its values?
The hypocrisy is stark. In 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, FIFA suspended Russia within days, citing human rights and solidarity. For Palestine, no urgency, no solidarity, no humanity.
Gaza: Where football and FIFA goes to die
Israel continues to compete internationally, including at the Paris 2024 Olympics, while bombing Gaza’s schools and hospitals. Why the double standard? Because FIFA fears Israel’s political power more than the moral cost of complicity.
Infantino sent condolences to the Israeli federation but none to Palestinians, not a word for young players buried under rubble. This is not oversight, but choice.
The Israeli Football Association doesn’t just represent an occupying power, it organises matches in illegal West Bank settlements. Clubs like Maccabi Ariel and Beitar Givat Ze’ev play in Israeli leagues on internationally recognised Palestinian land.
This violates FIFA’s statutes banning competitions on another federation’s territory without permission. FIFA knows but stays silent. It normalises and profits from this by including these clubs in competitions and sponsorships.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned this breach; FIFA has ignored them. Allowing football on stolen land isn’t neutrality — it’s active complicity.
Palestinian victims don’t need committees or legal delays, they need justice. FIFA must act as swiftly as it did against Russia, with the same resolve it claims in fighting racism.
Football has never been neutral. In South Africa, it was a tool against apartheid. In Palestine, it can be an act of resistance and dignity, but not while FIFA betrays its principles.
Infantino and FIFA must choose their side. Today, they stand with power, silence, and occupation. They are on the wrong side but it’s not too late. Expelling Israel isn’t politics; it’s a moral imperative. When football is played on blood and ruins, it ceases to be sport, it becomes complicity.
On Nakba Day, as Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession, FIFA held its 75th Congress in Paraguay and failed a test of moral responsibility.
Despite Palestinian calls to expel Israel for war crimes and settlement teams, FIFA delayed again. No timeline. No justice. Just bureaucracy while Israel bombs stadiums, kills players, and erases a generation.
Palestinian official Susan Shalabi urged: “Let’s not wait another year. We need to act now.” Her plea was met with silence.
Infantino arrived two hours late, after attending a Trump event in the Gulf, prompting a UEFA walkout. FIFA clearly serves power, not principle. This isn’t neutrality, it’s complicity. If killing athletes and breaking international law doesn’t warrant suspension, what does? Palestinian football can’t wait. The world is watching.
Leyla Hamed is a UK-based football journalist and sports law specialist, originally from Morocco and born in Spain. She currently serves as an editor at The Athletic, where she covers the English Premier League.
Follow Leyla on X: @leylahamed
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