Istanbul, MINA – FIFA and UEFA are disregarding international law by allowing Israel to continue competing in international tournaments despite credible reports from major organizations describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, said Kat Vilarev, the Palestine Football Association’s legal adviser and a sports law academic, in an interview with Anadolu Agency.
Vilarev noted that the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and FairSquare have all issued findings that accuse Israel of grave human rights violations. However, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin have chosen to ignore these reports.
“Both football and basketball associations use occupied Palestinian land to host competitions, meaning they directly support the occupation and illegal settlements,” she said. “Given the complicity of all levels of Israeli sports, global sports bodies should enforce their own statutes, human rights policies, and disciplinary codes, acting consistently with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
Vilarev stressed that Israeli athletes are also part of the military establishment, with some calling publicly for Gaza’s destruction, while clubs and associations have expressed open support for the Israeli occupation forces.
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Vilarev accused FIFA and UEFA of hypocrisy, saying they swiftly expelled Russia and Belarus from competitions following the invasion of Ukraine but continue to shield Israel from accountability.
“Since no external oversight mechanisms exist for FIFA or UEFA in such matters, they are effectively free to act as they wish,” she explained. “According to their own regulations, political considerations should play no role in sports governance. Yet, the issue has become deeply politicized, and the interests of the powerful always prevail.”
She added that athletes in Gaza have no legal recourse to appeal to international institutions such as the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) or the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Non-state actors cannot bring a case before the ICC, and private organizations like FIFA cannot be directly prosecuted there either. But individuals within those organizations, such as Infantino and Ceferin, could face prosecution if they personally aided crimes under the ICC’s jurisdiction,” she said.
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Vilarev said that the illegal transfer of the Israeli settler population, including athletes playing for settlement-based clubs, constitutes a war crime.
“Building settlements and sports clubs on stolen Palestinian land from which residents were forcibly displaced is also a war crime,” she stated. “Any willing state could, under the principle of individual criminal responsibility, seek to hold the presidents of FIFA and UEFA accountable for facilitating such crimes against humanity.
Vilarev emphasized the urgent need for new regulations and mechanisms in international sports law to ensure accountability and fairness.
“There has always been a need for reform, but the double standard applied to Russia and Israel highlights that necessity more than ever,” she said. “The global sports system has become deeply politicized, dominated by figures like Infantino and Ceferin who make decisions based on power rather than principle.”
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She concluded by urging the public to act collectively against this injustice.
“The public should collectively reject this hypocrisy by holding these institutions accountable, boycotting their sponsors, and refusing to watch any competition in which Israel participates,” Vilarev said.[]
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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