The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump says it will work to keep Israel from being banned from the 2026 men’s World Cup.
Israel’s participation in global soccer has been questioned in the past week, with the United Nations calling on FIFA and UEFA, the respective governing bodies of world and European soccer, to suspend the nation from their competitions.
A State Department spokesperson told The Athletic: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”
Israel’s national and club teams have continued to participate in FIFA and UEFA competitions throughout the conflict in Gaza, which began with the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. Israel is in the middle of its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign and is third in its group of five as it bids to reach next summer’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The draw for the World Cup will be made in Washington D.C. on Dec. 5.
It is unclear if U.S. officials have already pressured UEFA or FIFA to not ban Israel. When asked by The Athletic to clarify, the State Department spokesperson declined to comment further.
The UN’s statement on Tuesday called for the suspension of Israel from international competition due to what it described as an “unfolding genocide” in Gaza, an allegation Israel denies.
UEFA competition matches have not taken place in Israel since the 2023 attacks, in which 1,100 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza following Israel’s ground invasion, according to local health officials.
The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia confirmed on Sunday that they now formally recognize Palestinian statehood — a move with which President Trump said he disagreed. France announced its recognition of the state of Palestine on Monday.
What did the UN say?
On Tuesday, four members of the United Nations human rights council — independent human rights experts who are not employed by the UN or any government — called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international soccer in response to the conflict in Gaza.
The human rights experts released their statement following an investigation into alleged violations of humanitarian and human rights law during the Israel-Gaza war. The UN’s commission of inquiry concluded that “the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip” — crimes under international law.
Israel’s foreign ministry told the BBC earlier this month that it rejected the report and described it as “distorted and false.”
The report was published on Sept. 16 and the human rights experts released a statement on Tuesday, arguing that “sporting bodies must not turn a blind eye to grave human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalise injustices.”
The Israeli men’s team before their European Championship 2024 play-off against Iceland last year (David Balogh – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
“We are clear that the boycott must be addressed to the State of Israel and not to individual players,” they said. “We have always maintained that individuals cannot bear the consequences of the decisions their government makes, so there should be no discrimination or sanctions against individual players because of their origin or nationality.
“National teams representing states that commit massive human rights violations can and should be suspended, as has happened in the past (Russia is currently banned from global soccer due to the ongoing war in Ukraine).
“We urge FIFA to stop legitimising the situation arising from Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. There is a legal and moral imperative to take every measure possible to end the genocide in Gaza now.”
When approached by The Athletic regarding the UN’s statement on Wednesday, FIFA and UEFA declined to comment.
Has the issue been raised before?
In April 2024, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) asked FIFA to suspend Israel from competition in a submission made before FIFA’s 74th annual congress.
PFA president Jibril Rajoub spoke at the congress, calling on FIFA “to stand on the right side of history” and asking whether FIFA considers “some wars to be more important than others and some victims to be more significant.” An Israel Football Association (IFA) spokesperson had described the attempt to suspend the country as “nothing but a cynical and shameless move.”
FIFA did not suspend Israel but opened two investigations into alleged breaches of its statutes by Israeli football teams and authorities. The first was into whether teams from Israeli settlements in the West Bank competing in national Israeli competitions represent a breach of the FIFA statutes, and the second investigated allegations of discrimination by the IFA. The PFA has accused FIFA of failing to provide “clarity or due process” with as yet no conclusion to the investigations.
The PFA again called for Israel’s suspension at the 75th FIFA Congress in May. “Our issue, sadly again, is stuck in a highly politicized bureaucratic holding pattern,” said Susan Shalabi, vice president of the PFA.
In September, an IFA spokesperson said he was surprised Israel had yet to be suspended from international football.
“I’m surprised we’re still part of international tournaments. In many aspects, this is a miracle,” Shlomi Barzel, head of the IFA’s public relations department, told Israeli newspaper The Globes. “The miracle can be explained by action on our part and a lot of tolerance on the part of FIFA and UEFA, but historically countries have been suspended for much less than that.”
Why is UEFA involved?
Israel has been a member of the European confederation UEFA since 1994.
Israel was a founding member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and won the 1964 Asian Cup. They were later excluded from AFC competitions in 1974 following a vote after a number of teams refused to play against them.
Israel now participates in the European section for qualification to the World Cup. While it has never qualified for the European Championship — the continental competition UEFA runs every four years — it reached the play-offs for Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
Domestic Israeli teams also participate in UEFA club competitions, with Maccabi Tel Aviv competing in the league phase of this season’s Europa League.
UEFA confirmed in October 2024 that no matches would take place in Israel “until further notice” in response to the Israel-Gaza war. The national team and club sides have played “home” UEFA competition fixtures elsewhere, including in Hungary, Cyprus and Poland.
UEFA’s 55 member associations are meeting today (Thursday) at a regular gathering, although the issue of Israel’s participation is not on the agenda. UEFA’s next meeting of its 20-strong executive committee, the organisation’s main decision-making body, is scheduled for Dec. 3, but president Aleksander Ceferin could call one sooner than that. Slovenia, where Ceferin is from, issued sanctions against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Israel is due to play Norway and Italy away in World Cup qualifiers next month. Norway has already said it will donate the proceeds from the game to the Doctors Without Borders charity working in Gaza.
What about Russia?
Comparisons have been made between the situations of Russia and Israel, with former Manchester United player and France international Eric Cantona calling it “a double standard” for Israel to remain a part of international soccer, via The Telegraph.
After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, FIFA suspended it from competing in international matches on Feb. 28.
Fans of Greek side PAOK held up Palestinian flags when their team played Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League on Thursday (Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia’s men’s team had been due to play Poland in a World Cup play-off in March 2022, with the winner scheduled to face either Sweden or Czech Republic. All three teams had said they would refuse to play against a Russian side. It was later confirmed that Russia would not participate in the women’s European Championship in 2022.
Russian clubs were also suspended from European competition by UEFA.
UEFA and FIFA had announced plans in September 2023 to allow Russia’s under-17 teams to participate in their competitions. However, UEFA backtracked in October.
What would a ban cover?
Should Israel be banned by FIFA and UEFA, this would prevent the national team from competing in competitions organised by the two governing bodies.
At international level, this would cover the World Cup, with the 2026 men’s iteration taking place in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Israel is in a qualification group alongside Norway, Italy, Estonia and Moldova, and has played five of eight qualifying matches. Israel sits third, level on points with Italy. The top team from each UEFA group qualifies automatically for the World Cup, while the second-place team advances to a playoff round.
The ban would also include the women’s World Cup — a competition Israel has never qualified for. The European qualifying draw for the 2027 World Cup takes place in November.
A ban would also include UEFA international competitions: the men’s and women’s European Championships and Nations Leagues.
At club level, this would cover the men’s and women’s Champions League, the Europa League and Conference League. Maccabi Tel Aviv is the only Israeli team competing across the three competitions this season. Maccabi Tel Aviv is in the Europa League and is scheduled to play GNK Dinamo, Midtjylland, Aston Villa, Lyon, Stuttgart, Freiburg and Bologna during the league phase.
Additional reporting: Matt Slater
(Top photo of Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in April, Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
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