Making sense of international sport organisations in the global arena. The case of FIFA and Israel-Palestine

Abstract

This chapter analyses FIFA’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian issue, with particular reference to the International Football Federation’s stance on Israel’s assault on Gaza. It argues that international sports organisations like FIFA, far from being ‘neutral’, are themselves full-fledged actors in the international arena. Institutional aims, in particular promoting and protecting football and strengthening FIFA’s control over it, shaped the organisation’s approach to the issue. However, other factors, especially the ‘political’ stance of FIFA presidents Blatter and Infantino, are also crucial in explaining FIFA’s role. Both presidents prevented the FIFA congress from voting on Israel’s suspension from international football, in spite of the state’s clear violations of FIFA’s own rules. Infantino’s interventions, amid what was clearly emerging as a genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza, are entirely consistent with his broader position on regional politics and crucial in shaping FIFA’s role on controversial issues.