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FIFA delays verdict on Palestinian request to suspend Israel

FIFA, the world football governing body, did not rule on a Palestinian request to suspend Israel on Thursday, instead launching committee investigations to inform a final decision.

At FIFA's congress in Bangkok in May, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) demanded that its Israeli counterpart be suspended and that Israeli teams be barred from participating in FIFA events.

FIFA was originally scheduled to hold an extraordinary session of its ruling council before July 20 to review the independent legal analysis and decide how to proceed.

However, the deadline was extended to give legal experts more time to prepare a report.



The FIFA council adopted the recommendations and conclusions drawn from the legal analysis on Thursday at the organization's headquarters in Zurich.

It decided that its disciplinary committee would be tasked with investigating the PFA's allegations of discrimination.

Meanwhile, the FIFA governance, audit, and compliance committee "will be entrusted with the mission to investigate—and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on—the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine."


In a statement issued on Thursday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated, "The FIFA Council has carried out due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts."

"The ongoing violence in the region emphasises the importance of peace."

“As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect.”

Russia was kicked out of the 2022 World Cup and suspended from all international football competitions "until further notice" in March 2022 after invading Ukraine, according to a joint statement issued by FIFA and UEFA.

The ban on Russia remains in place, as the team did not compete in the Euro 2024 in Germany or the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics.

None of its football clubs competes in all four European tournaments.

Russia was barred from competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games by the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2019, following a four-year ban for manipulated doping data.

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