June 26 – A coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including Fairsquare, leading experts and scholars, has sent a letter to FIFA arguing that the Israel Football Association (IFA) has violated FIFA Statutes in relation to settlement clubs in the West Bank.
The group wrote to FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) with an assessment of the ‘illegality of Israeli settlements”, explaining that “The Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee need not concern itself with the question of the legality of Israeli settlements, but simply the issue of whether Israeli teams continue to play football matches in settlements in the West Bank.
“If that is the case, as the Palestine Football Association (PFA) alleges and the IFA has never denied, then the IFA is ipso facto in violation of article 64 (2) of the FIFA Statutes, which states that “Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval.”
The Palestine FA (PFA) first raised the issue of settlement clubs with the world governing body in 2013, but ever since – and as recently as the last two FIFA Congresses – Zurich has repeatedly kicked the problem into the long grass.
In Paraguay, at the 2025 Congress in May, FIFA and its general secretary Mattias Grafström explained the need for expert information, prompting the letter from a coalition of NGOs, former UN Special Rapporteurs, lawyers and academics.
Referencing the Fourth Geneva Convention, UN Security Council Resolutions 446 and 2334, and decisions of the International Court of Justice in 2004 and 2024, the letter argues: “Israel has militarily occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, and the settlements it has established on this territory are illegal under international law. These are unassailable facts.”
The letter goes on: “FIFA has been kicking the can down the road on this issue for 12 years despite clear evidence of a flagrant and very serious violation of its statutes. If its Governance Committee ignores a letter of this nature from academics of this stature, it will only serve to confirm that it is not independent and that FIFA has no interest in good governance.”
At May’s FIFA Congress, the PFA argued that its complaint has been stuck in “a highly politicised, bureaucratic holding pattern”.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, moc.l1750936389labto1750936389ofdlr1750936389owedi1750936389sni@i1750936389tnuk.1750936389ardni1750936389mas1750936389