GENEVA (AP) 鈥 European soccer body UEFA is moving toward a vote to suspend its member federation Israel over the war in Gaza, people familiar with the proposal told The Associated Press on Thursday.
A majority of UEFA鈥檚 20-member executive committee is expected to support any vote in favor of suspending Israeli teams from international play, two sources told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Such a step would prevent Israeli national and club teams from playing in international competitions including next year’s World Cup. Israel’s men’s team is set to resume its World Cup qualifying campaign in two weeks with away games against Norway and Italy.
It is unclear whether world soccer body FIFA will support excluding Israel given the close relations between FIFA鈥檚 leader, Gianni Infantino, and President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration鈥檚 support to secure the World Cup, and process visas for players, officials and potentially hundreds of thousands of visiting fans, is seen as key to FIFA delivering a successful tournament in the U.S., Canada and Mexico next year.
A State Department spokesperson said it will work to stop any efforts that tried to ban Israel鈥檚 team from the World Cup.
FIFA鈥檚 ruling council is scheduled to meet in Zurich next week. The 37-member council includes eight from UEFA.
FIFA declined to comment on Thursday. Infantino is based this week at FIFA’s satellite office in Trump Tower in Manhattan while attending events on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly.
Calls to exclude Israel from soccer and other sports in recent weeks amid an outcry over the humanitarian toll of its military campaign in Gaza. Last week Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez said Israel should be banned from international sports events just like Russia, which was sidelined after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this week seven independent experts working with the U.N. Human Rights Council urged to suspend Israel from international competitions.
UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin signaled a tougher view on Israel last month when banners saying 鈥淪top Killing Children. Stop Killing Civilians鈥 were placed on the field in front of the Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham teams ahead of the Super Cup game in Udine, Italy.
The discussion about whether to ban Israel from international sports comes as Israel faces increasing criticism and isolation over its military campaign, launched in response to the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Last week, Israel was accused of by an inquiry commission commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Israel鈥檚 sports and culture minister, Miki Zohar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel鈥檚 soccer federation, Moshe Zuares, have been working 鈥渋ntensively behind the scenes鈥 to block efforts to oust Israel from UEFA, Zohar’s office said Thursday. 鈥淭he right step now is to act responsibly with the professionals and not to make statements, and this is how all the parties involved in the efforts are acting. We will address this later.鈥
The decision to ban Russia in 2022 was partly driven by a swath of UEFA member federations refusing to play scheduled games against Russian opponents. No national or club team in Europe has so far refused to play an Israeli opponent, though soccer leaders in Norway and Italy in recent weeks.
The Norwegian soccer federation also pledged to give its profits from ticket sales for the Oct. 11 game in Oslo to humanitarian work in Gaza by Doctors Without Borders.
Both Italy鈥檚 Gabriele Gravina and Lise Klaveness of Norway are elected members of the UEFA executive committee which could vote on suspending Israel. Zuares, the Israeli soccer federation president, is also on the panel as is Nasser Al-Khela茂fi, a member of the Qatari government who is president of European champion Paris Saint-Germain.
Israel enraged Qatar, an influential U.S. ally that has been a key mediator throughout the war, with a in Doha, the Qatari capital.
At the Champions League final in May, PSG fans saying 鈥淪top Genocide in Gaza鈥 in French. UEFA did not open a disciplinary case despite having rules against political messaging inside stadiums.
On Wednesday evening in Greece, Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv played PAOK in the UEFA-organized Europa League. There were pro-Palestinian protests outside the stadium in Thessaloniki and a 鈥淪top Genocide鈥 banner displayed inside.
___ Associated Press correspondent Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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