FIFA Delays Decision On Israel Suspension, Initiates Disciplinary Probe

World football governing body FIFA refrained from making a final decision on Palestine’s request to suspend Israel on Thursday, opting instead to launch committee investigations before reaching a conclusion.

In May, during FIFA’s congress in Bangkok, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) requested that Israel’s football teams be banned from FIFA events and called for the suspension of Israel’s Football Association.

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FIFA initially planned to convene an extraordinary session by July 20 to review an independent legal analysis and decide on the matter, but the deadline was extended to allow more time for the report’s completion.

At Thursday’s meeting at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters, the council adopted the recommendations and findings from the legal review. The council then tasked FIFA’s disciplinary committee with investigating the allegations of discrimination raised by the PFA.

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.”