FIFA Council accepts Palestinian Football Association's plea against Israel for human rights violations

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

The FIFA Council on Thursday accepted the Palestinian Football Association (PFA)’s petition against Israel for human rights violations and decided to launch an investigation.

The decision was made at the 74th International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Council meeting in Zurich to evaluate the PFA's application against the Israel Football Association.

"The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will be mandated to initiate an investigation into the alleged offence of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association," read the committee statement.

"The FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee will be entrusted with the mission to investigate – and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on – the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine," the statement added.

In April, the PFA petitioned FIFA to sanction and exclude Israel for violating human rights and humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.

Later in September, the PFA announced that FIFA had received an independent legal opinion recommending sanctions against the Israel Football Association for violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Gaza.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 of last year.

Earlier on Thursday, the Health Ministry in the war-torn territory said nearly 100 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll since last Oct. 7 to 41,788.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

- Voting procedure for FIFA World Cup 2030 and 2034 begins

The FIFA Council also announced unanimous approval of the voting procedure for naming the FIFA World Cup hosts for 2030 and 2034.

The competition hosts will be decided at the extraordinary FIFA Congress on Dec. 11.

In addition, the council approved a registration window for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which will run from June 1 to June 10.

Clubs will be able to replace players during a restricted in-competition period from June 27 to July 3, 2025, as some players' contracts may expire in the middle of the competition.