Making sense of international sport organisations in the global arena. The case of FIFA and Israel-Palestine

Abstract. This chapter analyses FIFA’s involvement in the Israeli-Pales tinian issue, with particular reference to the International Football Fed eration’s stance on Israel’s assault on Gaza. It argues that international  sports organisations like FIFA, far from being ‘neutral’, are themselves  full-fledged actors in the international arena. Institutional aims, in par ticular promoting and protecting football and strengthening FIFA’s con trol over it, shaped the organisation’s approach to the issue. However,  other factors, especially the ‘political’ stance of FIFA presidents Blatter  and Infantino, are also crucial in explaining FIFA’s role. Both presidents  prevented the FIFA congress from voting on Israel’s suspension from  international football, in spite of the state’s clear violations of FIFA’s own  rules. Infantino’s interventions, amid what was clearly emerging as a  genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza, are entirely con sistent with his broader position on regional politics and crucial in shap ing FIFA’s role on controversial issues.  

Keywords: FIFA, International Sport Organizations, Israel, Palestine.