FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the organization must promote peace and unity and cannot resolve political issues, amid calls to expel Israel from international competitions.
Infantino chaired a meeting of the FIFA Council, whose agenda did not include the issue of Israel, which will resume qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada this month.
Numerous organizations have in recent weeks asked FIFA and the European Football Association (UEFA) to suspend Israel after a United Nations Commission of Inquiry announced in early September that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Infantino stressed to the 37-member Council "the importance of promoting peace and unity, particularly in the context of the current situation in Gaza," according to a FIFA statement, which did not directly refer to Israel.
"FIFA cannot solve geopolitical problems, but it can and must promote football around the world using its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values," Infantino said.
FIFA did not organize a press conference, so it was not possible to ask Infantino questions.
Today's meeting in Zurich was attended by UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and the leaders of a group of European clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi.
The Israeli national team will play against Norway in Oslo on October 11th, and three days later in Udine against Italy, in World Cup qualifiers.
Norway is one of the football associations that has asked UEFA to hold a vote at the Executive Committee ahead of the FIFA Council meeting in Zurich on the suspension of Israeli teams from international competitions. The Turkish Football Federation has directly called on UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel.
An Associated Press source said the proposal would likely be adopted, despite opposition from Israel and Germany.
The United States government announced in late September that it would seek to block any attempt to ban Israel from the 2026 World Cup. The Israeli national team is third in its qualifying group for the 2026 World Cup. The top teams from each group will qualify directly for the tournament, while the second-place teams will play in a playoff.
Israel has regularly denied that its actions in Gaza constitute genocide and stated that they are justified as a means of self-defense.
Israel attacked Gaza in response to a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in which 1.200 people were killed and 251 were kidnapped.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 66.000 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
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