The FIFA Council has delayed until October its decision on the Palestinian request to suspend Israel from international football.
World football’s governing body FIFA has again delayed its consideration of a Palestinian request to suspend Israel from international football over its war on Gaza.
FIFA announced on Friday evening that it will now consider proposals from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) against the Israeli Football Association (IFA) in October.
The PFA had submitted a proposal to suspend Israel in May, with FIFA ordering an urgent legal assessment and promising to address it at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.
FIFA said last month that the legal assessment would now be shared with its council by August 31.
The Zurich-based body announced that it had postponed the assessment until October.
“FIFA has received the independent legal assessment of the Palestinian Football Association’s proposals against Israel,” FIFA said.
“This assessment will be forwarded to the FIFA Council for consideration so that the matter can be discussed at its next meeting in October.”
FIFA declined to provide further details on the assessment or to specify when the meeting would take place in October.
The Palestinian proposal accuses the IFA of complicity in the Israeli government’s violations of international law, of discriminating against Arab players and of including clubs located on Palestinian territory in its league.
The IFA has rejected these allegations.
The PFA said at least 92 Palestinian players were killed in the war, football infrastructure was destroyed, its leagues were suspended and its national team was forced to play World Cup qualifiers abroad.
In its proposal, the PFA wants FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israeli teams, including the national team and clubs.
At least 40,691 people have been killed and 94,060 injured since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on October 7. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel in attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7.
