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FIFA Council Takes No Action Against Israel, Calls for Peace and Unity Amid Pressure to Suspend Israeli Teams
FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA Football Conference in Milan, Italy, Sept. 22, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday called on the governing body of soccer to promote peace and unity as it faces mounting pressure to suspend Israel from international competitions because of the country’s military actions against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
The FIFA Council convened in Zurich on Thursday to discuss a series of topics, including soccer governance and competitions. The topic of Israel was not formally listed on the agenda for the meeting. However, in his opening remarks, Infantino spoke to the 37-member council about the role of soccer in encouraging peace and unity, “particularly in the context of the ongoing situation in Gaza,” according to a FIFA media release that did not mention Israel by name. He also stressed that FIFA could not solve political issues.
“At FIFA, we are committed to using the power of football to bring people together in a divided world. Our thoughts are with those who are suffering in the many conflicts that exist around the world today, and the most important message that football can convey right now is one of peace and unity,” said Infantino, who added that he has had repeated conversations with confederation presidents on the matter.
“FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems, but it can and must promote football around the world by harnessing its unifying, educational, cultural, and humanitarian values,” the FIFA president noted.
Qualifying games for the 2026 World Cup resume next week. Israel’s men’s soccer team is scheduled to compete against Norway in a qualifier on Oct. 11 in Oslo and then Italy on Oct. 14 in Udine. Israel and Italy are currently tied in Group I on nine points each, only six points behind Norway. Israel is currently playing home games in Hungary.
Several soccer federations in Europe, including in Norway and Turkey, have urged UEFA to ban Israeli teams from international competitions because of Israel’s military campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza who orchestrated the deadly invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Football Association who has repeatedly called for FIFA to suspend Israel from international matches, was also in Switzerland this week and met on Thursday with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry, according to The Associated Press.
FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani said on Wednesday that any decision regarding Israel’s suspension from international soccer should be made by European soccer’s governing body UEFA. “That issue is the jurisdiction of UEFA, first and foremost,” he told Sky News on the sidelines of the Leaders sports business conference in London.
“It’s their member and they have a process … so we need to respect that,” he added. “And so, I think it’s important that we respect that it’s UEFA’s decision. Obviously, UEFA and FIFA will be having whatever discussions they need to, no different than any other confederation would on any other member. And obviously it’s an issue that changes from a geopolitics standpoint almost on a daily basis, as we saw with the last proposal of a peace plan. And so, there’s a lot of moving parts.”
“No different than if I have to deal with a member in my region for whatever reason, it’s a decision by UEFA,” Montagliani – who is also the president of the CONCACAF region covering North and Central America and the Caribbean – additionally told reporters at the Leaders conference.
The former head of the former Canadian Soccer Association added that the Palestine Football Association’s request to ban Israel was still being considered by two FIFA committees.
Montagliani made the comments on the same day that UK-based human rights group Amnesty International wrote to FIFA and UEFA, calling on the organizations to suspend Israeli teams from their tournaments because of what it claimed is a “genocide” taking place in Gaza.
“As Israel’s national football team gears up for World Cup qualifiers against Norway and Italy, Israel continues to perpetrate genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” wrote Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard. He also accused Israel of engaging in a “deliberate campaign of wholesale devastation, forced displacement, and starvation of civilians.”
“At the same time, Israel is brutally expanding its illegal settlements and legitimizing illegal outposts in the West Bank as part of its unlawful occupation of Palestinian Territory,” Callamard claimed. “It is nothing short of a disgrace that the IFA [Israeli Football Association] is still allowing clubs from these settlements to keep playing in its leagues, after multiple warnings for more than a decade.”
The FIFA Council on Thursday also appointed Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan as joint hosts of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2027 and confirmed London, England, as host for the final phase of the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup next year, which will be comprised of four matches to be played from Jan. 28- Feb. 1.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.