The Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s decision not to sanction Israel over football clubs based in the West Bank.
As detailed by The Athletic last month, FIFA opted not to take action against the Israel Football Association (IFA) following a complaint lodged by the PFA in 2024.
The world governing body determined no action should be taken against Israel or the clubs, citing the “unresolved and highly complex” legal status of the West Bank under “international law”.
The United Nations (UN) and the International Court of Justice have both determined that all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which is sought by Palestinians as part of a future state, violate international law — a claim which Israel rejects, according to The New York Times.
CAS confirmed to The Athletic that an appeal had been filed by the PFA against FIFA on April 20.
PFA vice president Susan Shalabi said an appeal to CAS was the only course of action available to contest FIFA’s “unjust” decision.
“Since we have exhausted every legal venue possible at FIFA, we’ll still go by the rules, go by the book, and we’ll appeal that decision because we think it’s very unjust,” PFA vice president Susan Shalabi told Reuters on Tuesday.
“The (FIFA) council decided after 15 years of deliberations on this issue not to decide. So the only course of action that we have is to go to CAS and to appeal that. We will go through the whole process until we are able to achieve justice.”
Shalabi was speaking after the Asian Football Confederation Congress in Vancouver, Canada, held two days before the FIFA Congress in the same city.
FIFA’s decision not to sanction Israel over clubs in the West Bank was criticised by human rights organisations Amnesty International and FairSquare at the time, with the latter saying the “case can be added to the long list of instances of serial misgovernance” by world football’s governing body.
In a separate investigation which concluded last month, FIFA did sanction the IFA for discrimination, ordering it to pay 150,000 Swiss Francs (£141,700) and issuing a warning about its future conduct following a complaint by the PFA.
The PFA had accused the IFA of allowing Beitar Jerusalem, an Israeli Premier League side, of racist and discriminatory behaviour and of failing to act following social media posts in support of the war in Gaza from senior figures in Israeli football.
FIFA disciplinary committee’s investigation concluded that the IFA had “become institutionally complicit in a system that violates the core values of the game”.
As well as the fine, the IFA was also ordered to display in its next three “A-level FIFA competition matches at home a significant and highly visible banner with the words ‘Football Unites the World — No to Discrimination’ alongside the Israel Football Association’s logo”.
The IFA was also ordered also implement a FIFA-approved “prevention plan” focused on “reforms, protocols, monitoring, and educational campaigns in stadiums and on official channels for an entire season”. The decision remains subject to any potential appeal.
FIFA has been approached for comment by The Athletic.