The Palestinian Football Association on Tuesday appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport the decision of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) not to impose sanctions on Israel due to clubs based in settlements in the West Bank. An official in the federation said that the situation of Palestinian football is still dire, especially in Gaza, adding, "We have lost hundreds of players, most of whom are children. So, there is no football at all in Gaza now."
Published on: 04/29/2026 - 09:54
A high-ranking official in the Palestinian Football Association said on Tuesday that the local federation had appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) not to impose sanctions on Israel due to clubs based in settlements in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Football Association has long argued that clubs based in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as part of a future state, should not participate in leagues organized by the Israeli Football Association.
The International Federation (FIFA) said last month that it would not take any action against the Israeli Football Association or Israeli clubs, pointing to the unresolved legal status of the West Bank under public international law.
Susan Shalabi, Vice President of the Palestinian Football Association, said after the annual conference of the Asian Football Confederation in Vancouver, which was held two days before the annual FIFA conference in the same city, “Since we have exhausted all possible legal means at FIFA, we will adhere to the rules and regulations, and we will appeal this decision because we believe it is completely unfair.”
Read also: FIFA fines the Israeli Football Association for discrimination and closes the file of West Bank clubs
She added, “After 15 years of deliberations on this issue, the FIFA Council decided not to make a decision. Therefore, the only option available to us is to resort to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and appeal this decision. “We will go through these procedures in full so that we can achieve justice.”
“We lost hundreds of players in Gaza, most of them children.”
Shalabi said visa issues also prevented some representatives of the Palestinian Football Association from entering Canada to attend the FIFA conference. She said she was granted an electronic travel permit immediately because she applied using a foreign passport, but other members of the delegation, including the president of the Palestinian Football Association, Secretary-General and legal advisor Gonzalo Bui, did not initially obtain visas.
She added that the visas were not issued until after pressure “at the political level, at the social level and at the media level” in addition to movements from local community members and activists, adding that the president of the union did not obtain a visa in time to travel with the rest of the delegation, but he is expected to arrive later.
Susan Shalabi said that visa problems were not limited to the Palestinian delegation, and that she learned that the Iranian Football Federation, whose representatives did not attend the Asian Football Confederation conference, also faced problems. "As you can see, it's a huge event coming up. We have the World Cup, and it's good for Canada that everyone from everywhere can come and participate in this event," she added.
She added that the situation for Palestinian football is still dire, especially in Gaza, where she said that all football facilities are either unusable or destroyed. “We lost hundreds of players, most of them children. So, there is no football at all in Gaza now,” she said. “It is very dangerous for our teams to participate in competitions,” adding that professional leagues have been suspended and that the Palestinian Federation is trying to keep football alive through popular and youth competitions.
France 24/Reuters
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