FIFA is supporting the Israeli occupation by legitimizing clubs that play in illegal West Bank settlements
Palestinian children hold red cards in front of Israeli security forces during a demonstration against the Israeli Football Federation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, 29 May 2015
Jill Thomson writes in Mondoweiss on 9 June 2026:
If you take this long to investigate something, there is a good chance you are hiding something. FIFA and UEFA, it turns out, have been hiding several things. Ten, to be precise. That is the number of illegal Israeli settlement clubs now operating in the occupied West Bank, at least seven of them playing on land that should fall under the jurisdiction of the Palestine Football Association (Palestine FA). There are also three clubs in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
FIFA promised to investigate illegal settlement clubs in October 2024 amid accusations they breach FIFA and UEFA territorial integrity and anti-racism statutes. Yet while seemingly counting these clubs, FIFA has been broadcasting their games on its streaming platform, FIFA+. One club has been allowed to progress to Israel’s Premier League, after being given a generous helping hand by the UEFA Foundation and the U.S. government. Another club has been selected twice to play in UEFA competition, despite a strict vetting process apparently in place.
These are the findings of a new report I authored on illegal settlement clubs – the first time these have been thoroughly investigated since shortly after President Gianni Infantino and UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin’s presidencies began. They raise an uncomfortable question: are FIFA and UEFA’s leadership moving the goalposts on Israeli occupation of Palestine – effectively legitimizing illegal settlement clubs, and – by extension – Israel’s unlawful presence there? The evidence overwhelmingly suggests so.