ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Friday became the first UEFA member to publicly call for Israel to be suspended from soccer, calling the situation in Gaza “inhumane and unacceptable.”
Turkish Football Federation president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu’s letter to international soccer leaders came as European body UEFA moves toward a vote to suspend Israel, whose men’s team is in the middle of qualifying for next year’s World Cup.
“It is now time for FIFA and UEFA to act,” Haciosmanoglu wrote in the letter quoted by the Anadolu news agency.
“Despite positioning themselves as defenders of civic values and peace, the sporting world and football institutions have remained silent for far too long,” the Turkish official said.
Haciosmanoglu is not on the 20-member UEFA ruling committee, which is expected to have a majority to exclude Israel if a vote is called. The committee includes Israel soccer leader Moshe Zuares, who was elected in April.
The head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, is closely aligned with 2026 World Cup co-host the United States and President Donald Trump so is seen as unlikely to back a move to suspend Israel.
The US State Department said on Thursday it will work to stop any efforts aiming to ban Israel’s team from the World Cup.
Infantino chairs a meeting of FIFA’s ruling council next Thursday in Zurich.
Norway hosts Israel in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo on Oct. 11 and Italy is due to play Israel in Udine three days later. The Norwegian soccer federation has promised to give its profits on ticket sales to Doctors Without Borders for humanitarian work in Gaza.
FIFA didn’t immediately return requests seeking comment on Friday.
Pressure on international sports to act against Israel has grown this month after days of chaos at the Spanish Vuelta cycle race — which led Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call for a sporting ban on Israel — a Sept. 9 airstrike by Israel targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital Doha, and a United Nations Human Rights Council-appointed inquiry accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Haciosmanoglu said the situation in Gaza was now more urgent and “football has always been far more than a sport.”
“It is a universal language that brings together different cultures, fosters friendship, and strengthens the bonds of solidarity among peoples,” he wrote. “Guided by these values, we feel compelled to raise our deep concern regarding the unlawful (and more importantly, completely inhumane and unacceptable) situation being carried out by the State of Israel in Gaza and its surrounding areas.”
Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July called Israel a “terrorist state” for its actions in Syria and a destabilizing force in the region.
Israel has qualified for only one men’s World Cup, in 1970, when it advanced by playing against Australia and New Zealand in a section involving teams in Asia not from the Middle East. Israel was exiled from Asian soccer a few years later and has been a full member of UEFA since 1994.
Turkish soccer leader urges FIFA, UEFA to suspend Israel
https://arab.news/9nt6y
Turkish soccer leader urges FIFA, UEFA to suspend Israel
- Turkish Football Federation President Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu says sporting world and football institutions have remained silent for far too long
- European soccer’s governing body appears poised for an emergency vote next week on suspending Israel from competitions
Tuwaiq Cup winner Scotland Yard returns to racing at King Abdulaziz Racecourse
- Nicolas Bachalard’s star lines up in Race 6 on Saturday
RIYADH: Tuwaiq Cup winner Scotland Yard (USA) makes his eagerly-awaited return to action this Saturday on a packed weekend of racing at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, which includes the $400,000 (SR1.5 million) UAE President Cup.
The latter is for Purebred Arabian Horses on Friday, but all eyes will be on Saturday’s sixth race in which Scotland Yard faces 15 rivals on his first outing since The Saudi Cup weekend when he blitzed the field to win by over five lengths.
Champion jockey Adel Alfouraidi’s mount won three of this four outings last season and bigger targets will surely await the six-year-old, who ran eighth in the 2024 renewal of The Saudi Cup.
Saturday’s $32,000 race over 1800m looks to be at his mercy with the White Stable of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons’ Bolide Porto (IRE) and the Humoud Mufarrej-trained The King’s General (IRE) probably his main opponents.
The UAE President Cup — staged as Race 10 on Friday — has a full complement of 20 runners chasing the huge prize pot and Abdulaziz Al-Mosa’s Najeeb Al Zaman (FR) tops the ratings.
A winner of nine of his 14 starts including when last seen here in March, the six-year-old has top-class form and finished third to Asfan Al Khalediah (KSA) in the 2024 Group 1 Obaiyah Arabian Classic.
The latter’s trainer, Nasser Mutlaq, relies on Nadem Al Molwk Al Khalediah (KSA), but the winner of three of his four career starts has not been seen since December 2023, while his stablemate Mutwakel Alkhalediah (KSA) also has good form in that year but has only been seen once since and finished fifth on the final day of the Taif season in September.
Also in with a big chance is the mare, Bint Ghaliat Al Khalediah (KSA) who won twice in Taif this summer before chasing home the brilliant Tilal AI Khalediah (KSA) — she will be ridden by Fahad Alfouraidi.
Other Purebred Arabian stars are on show in Saturday’s first race — a 1200m $32,000 open — as recent scorer and Taif Sprint Championship Prep winner Baseq And Bake (USA) renews rivalry with the Sprint Championship winner Jade De Faust (FR) after they finished first and second on Sept. 26.
Also on Saturday, $40,000 is on offer for the Sultan Raei Algudah Cup in which 13 two-year-olds have been declared and the White Stable pair of Galb Alraad (USA) and Walad (USA) take on the Red Stable of Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz’s Anquod (GB).
There is also domestic Group 3 action on Friday with 11 to go to post for the $44,000 Ministry of Interior Cup, in which the White Stable’s Yaroa (KSA) appears to have a good opportunity after he lost his unbeaten record when third in the Africa Cup last month.
The other race of the same name over 1800m is for three-year-olds and features seven runners headed by Alfouraidi’s mount Badr Alsamawi (KSA) who has his first run since taking third in the Saudi Derby behind Golden Vekoma (USA).
