The Trump administration has pledged to intervene and prevent any efforts to ban Israel from international soccer ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Sky News reported on Thursday.
“We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told the British news channel.
The Blue and Whites are currently competing in European qualifiers for the World Cup, organized by UEFA. Next year’s tournament will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Trump has talked of his pride in hosting the soccer competition, as well as the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The United States will also celebrate its 250th anniversary next year.
Washington’s intervention comes after U.N. experts on Tuesday called on FIFA and UEFA to suspend the Jewish state from international competitions, “as a necessary response to address the ongoing genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Jerusalem and Washington strongly reject the charge that Israel is committing genocide in its war against Hamas following the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre.
The call to boycott the Jewish state comes after a recent U.N. report claiming Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Asked about the report on Sept. 19, Trump said that the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in Israel’s south on Oct. 7, “was genocide at the highest level.”
“I haven’t seen [the report],” Trump said, “but did anybody commit genocide on Oct. 7? What do you think about that? That was murder, genocide, you can call it whatever you want … , but little babies were chopped in half, arms were cut off people, heads were cut off people—that’s genocide.”
Sky News reported Wednesday that high-level discussions in European soccer about banning Israel from international competitions are taking place, but that no decisions have been made.
Qatar is actively pressuring UEFA to expel Israel from European soccer competitions, Israel Hayom reported on Sept. 20. The Muslim Brotherhood-aligned Arab Gulf state has been ramping up its efforts, especially since an Israeli strike in Doha on Sept. 9 targeting Hamas terrorist leaders in response to a Hamas-claimed shooting in Jerusalem the previous day that killed six and wounded 21.
Meanwhile, Israeli players and fans are facing increasing hostility on European soil. Supporters of Thessaloniki-based club PAOK FC booed players from Maccabi Tel Aviv at the start of their Europa League match on Wednesday in the northern Greek city. The fans waved Palestine Liberation Organization flags and unveiled a large banner reading “Show Israel the red card.” The match ended in a 0-0 draw.
Police detained several protesters before the match, where two small demonstrations called for the expulsion of Israeli clubs from European competitions amid the war in Gaza. Protesters displayed a banner reading “Genocide” in English from scaffolding on a building complex that also houses the U.S. consulate.
Maccabi fans were subjected to antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam last year when visiting for a match.
“It’s very unfortunate that there is destruction during a war, but the Israeli Football Association and Maccabi Tel Aviv are not responsible for that destruction,” Jonathan Turner, the chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, told Sky News.
“It does strike Jewish people perhaps to a considerable extent because many of us recall that the Nazis started with boycotting Jews.”
