"Infantino stressed to his 37-member council "the importance of promoting peace and unity, particularly in the context of the ongoing situation in Gaza," FIFA said in a news release that did not refer directly to Israel. "FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems," Infantino said in the statement, "but it can and must promote football around the world by harnessing its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values." FIFA did not schedule a news conference and Infantino was not made available for interviews."
"The Israel men's team is scheduled to travel to play World Cup qualifiers against Norway in Oslo on Oct. 11 and Italy in Udine three days later. Norway was among European soccer federations urging UEFA to call a vote of its executive committee ahead of the FIFA meeting in Zurich on suspending Israeli teams from international competitions. Turkey's soccer body directly called on UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel."
FIFA emphasized the importance of promoting peace and unity and said the governing body cannot solve geopolitical problems while harnessing football's unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values. The ruling council met without formally placing Israel on its agenda as 2026 World Cup qualifying resumes. The Israel men's team is scheduled to play Norway and Italy in October. Several European federations urged UEFA to vote on suspending Israeli teams and Turkey called for suspension. UEFA's executive vote appeared likely to pass despite some opposition. FIFA affirmed that suspensions are last-resort measures, underscored responsibility to protect players and staff, and will prepare contingency measures. Local and regional federations are expected to address safety and security.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]