A vote on whether to suspend Israel from European soccer competitions is on hold after the announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, according to a Sky News report.
A growing number of European countries have been pushing for a vote to boot Israeli teams from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which governs the sport in Europe. Israel has competed under UEFA’s umbrella since 1994 due to decades of boycotts by Middle East-based clubs in the Asian Football Confederation.
On Monday, Trump unveiled a 20-point plan to resolve the Israel-Hamas war and rebuild Gaza, with assured support from Israel and key Arab partners. Hamas has not yet responded to the proposal.
Sky News reports that European soccer leaders think that the application of UEFA sanctions on Israel is not appropriate with the plan on the table.
A UEFA ban might leave Israel unable to qualify for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
The Trump administration decried the ban reports last week, with a State Department spokesperson saying, “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”
The Guardian reported that a UEFA ban might apply only to competitions that UEFA directly controls, and not to the World Cup, where UEFA runs the regional qualification process for FIFA.
Israeli teams have been forced to play some away matches in Europe in neutral locations for safety and crowd control purposes, and all their “home” matches in Europe because of the current war against Hamas.
Israel critics believed they had pressured Reebok into a boycott of Israel on Tuesday, with the global sportswear brand reportedly deciding to remove its logo from the apparel of Israel’s national soccer team.
Later on Tuesday, the Israel Football Association said the decision had been reversed after a discussion between IFA President Moshe Zuares, Reebok and the company’s Israeli franchisee.
“Reebok reversed its decision and the Israel national team’s uniforms in international matches will continue to feature the company’s logo as it has been up to now,” the IFA said.
