ZURICH: World football’s governing body FIFA made no verdict either way Thursday on a Palestinian request to suspend Israel, instead launching committee investigations to inform an eventual decision.
At FIFA’s congress in Bangkok in May, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) called for its Israeli counterpart to be suspended and for Israeli teams to be banned from FIFA events.
FIFA was initially set to hold an extraordinary session of its ruling council before July 20 to review the independent legal analysis and decide how to proceed.
However, the deadline was pushed back to give legal experts more time to complete a report.
At the organization’s headquarters in Zurich on Thursday, the FIFA council adopted the recommendations and conclusions reached in the legal analysis.
It decided that its disciplinary committee would be mandated to investigate the alleged offense of discrimination raised by the PFA.
Meanwhile the FIFA governance, audit and compliance committee “will be entrusted with the mission to investigate — and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on — the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine.”
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement: “The FIFA Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts.
“The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations... we need peace.
“As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we urge all parties to restore peace to the region with immediate effect.”
FIFA defers decision on request to suspend Israel
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FIFA defers decision on request to suspend Israel
- The FIFA council adopted the recommendations and conclusions reached in the legal analysis
- It decided that its disciplinary committee would be mandated to investigate the alleged offense of discrimination raised by the PFA
Nigeria’s Chukwueze calls for AFCON to get same respect as World Cup
- “Everybody wants to play in AFCON. It’s one of the best competitions in the world,” Chukwueze told On Sports TV
Nigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the Africa Cup of Nations should be given the same level of respect as the World Cup and the European Championship following controversy over the timing of the tournament in Morocco.
Initially scheduled to take place in the summer, this year’s AFCON was scheduled for December 21-January 18, depriving leading European clubs of key players participating in it at a crucial stage of the domestic season. “Everybody wants to play in AFCON. It’s one of the best competitions in the world,” Chukwueze told On Sports TV. “You have to respect the AFCON the same way you respect the European Championship or World Cup.”
The Fulham winger will miss six games for his club if Nigeria reach the round of 16.
“We understand they scheduled it at the wrong time of the year, but when it’s important, if you get recalled you have to go,” he said. “You don’t have any choice, your club can’t stop you and no one should say anything bad about the AFCON. Yes, they put it at the wrong time, but saying it’s not a good competition or a great competition is unacceptable.”
Chukwueze helped Nigeria secure an opening 2-1 win over Tanzania in Group C ahead of their second game against Tunisia on Saturday.
