The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has voted in favour of submitting a proposal to UEFA calling for Israel to be excluded from European club and international football competitions.
The motion, put forward by Bohemians, was presented to the FAI’s General Assembly during an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held this afternoon ahead of the organisation’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Blanchardstown, Dublin, reports RTE.
The proposal cited two alleged breaches of UEFA regulations by the Israel Football Association (IFA): running clubs within occupied Palestinian territories without approval from the Palestinian FA, and allegedly failing to enforce a robust anti-racism policy.
To pass, the motion needed the backing of at least 50% of the FAI’s delegates. It was approved by a majority, receiving 74 votes in favour, seven against, and two abstentions, reports RTE.
The FAI General Assembly is made up of three chambers: professional football, amateur and youth football, and a national bodies group that represents schoolboys’ and schoolgirls’ football.
At the end of September, UEFA postponed an emergency vote on whether to suspend Israel from European football due to the war in Gaza, following the announcement of a peace plan for the region by US President Donald Trump, reports RTE.
In a statement, the FAI said: “In an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Football Association of Ireland, an Ordinary Resolution was posed to members of the FAI General Assembly. It passed by a majority – 74 in favour, 7 against, 2 abstained,
“The Ordinary Resolution posed that the Board of Directors of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is hereby instructed to and shall, without delay:
i. Submit a formal motion (the “Motion”) to the UEFA Executive Committee requesting the immediate suspension of the Israel Football Association (IFA) from UEFA competitions due to its violating two independent provisions of the UEFA Statutes, namely:
1. The organisation of clubs in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association, in breach of FIFA Statutes (Article 73) and UEFA Statutes (Article 5);
2. The failure of the IFA to implement and enforce an effective anti-racism policy, in breach of UEFA Statutes (Article 7bis) and related disciplinary regulations (together, the “Violations”).
ii. Call on UEFA to publish transparent criteria for the suspension or exclusion of member associations to ensure equal treatment of all members,” reports RTE.
Bohemian FC Chief Operating Officer Daniel Lambert brought the motion forward.
He explained that the aim was to draw attention to “two serious breaches of the UEFA statutes that have taken place now for a long number of years,” reports RTE.
“First, and probably the most important, is that there are teams playing on occupied lands, which is explicitly prohibited by UEFA statute for very good reason,
“And the second is the absolute failure of UEFA to tackle serious instances and continued instances of racism, which has been highlighted by numerous Israeli NGOs, as well as international NGOs, so it’s not something that people are commenting on without knowledge,” reports RTE.
Mr Lambert said “it flies in the face of logic that one association, in a game governed by rules, can breach UEFA statutes with no measures taken against them, or with no roadmap to take any action,” reports RTE.
He added that the FAI will now forward the motion to UEFA.
“We’ve asked the FAI to instruct UEFA EXCO (executive committee) to take action against the Israeli FA under the statutes. They should be excluded from competitions, that’s what we’re hoping will happen,” reports RTE.
Vote follows Norwegian and Turkish FA calls
UEFA had been considering a vote early last month on whether to ban Israel from European competitions due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, according to a source quoted by Reuters.
However, internal talks within UEFA about the possible suspension were paused after a US-brokered ceasefire was reached on 10 October, reports RTE.
The FAI’s decision aligns with similar appeals made in September by the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian football associations, who also urged UEFA to suspend Israel from international competition.
Those calls followed a plea from UN experts to FIFA and UEFA to exclude Israel from world football, referencing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that accused Israel of committing genocide during the Gaza war, reports RTE.
Israel has denied the genocide allegations and dismissed the report as scandalous, reports RTE.
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