For the third year running this competition has been marred by Israeli obstruction.   For the first leg ten West Bank players for Ahli Al-Khabeel were not allowed to enter Gaza and the team was obliged to move its goalkeeper to centre forward.  For the second leg ten of the twenty five strong Gazan squad from …

The Irish Times reported: (https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/palestinian-visitors-melt-irish-hearts-as-football-finally-takes-centre-stage-1.3173395) The term political football has been around in one form or another for a few hundred years but it can hardly have been much more aptly applied than to the issue of actual football in Palestine. For the next week or so a group of 18 kids from Gaza will be …

The Palestinian Football Association has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a decision by world soccer’s governing body FIFA regarding the association’s rights to run football activities there. Reuters has announced that CAS said in a statement that the appeal was against a decision taken during the FIFA Congress in …

Hugh Lovatt and Martin Konecny have castigated FIFA in this article in Middle East Eye:  http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/fifa-has-three-options-deal-israeli-settlement-clubs-only-one-legitimate-821972348 They conclude that FIFA must observe FIFA rules and follow the UN consensus.  “if no governments are willing to treat settlements as part of Israel, maybe FIFA can be used to set a precedent” they note.  “As a sports organisation, …

The Nation published a good comment on recent events.  The full text is given below or through the link FIFA Punts on Palestine and Fouls Its Own Bylaws For Palestinians across the globe, May 15 marked “The Nakba,” loosely translated as the “the catastrophe.” This is the day to memorialize the 1948 mass displacement of 700,000 …

The following update was posted this afternoon by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) at https://bdsmovement.net/news/fifa-president-hijacks-vote-israeli-settlements-continues-violations-fifa-statutes: May 11, 2017 — Palestinians accuse FIFA President Gianni Infantino of corruption and nepotism after he blocked the Palestinian Football Association’s motion at today’s FIFA Congress. The motion demanded that the Israeli Football …

Following the FIFA Congress the PFA has just published a Press Release condemning FIFA’s actions at the Congress and indicating it will approach the Court for Arbitration of Sport to resolve its problems.  The Palestinian Mission in the UK has published the Release. Statement by Palestine Football Association  Press Release: In spite of the legal ambiguity that …

The Congress ended with a decision that the FIFA Council would find a solution on settlement clubs by March 2018,  and possibly even by October 2017.  This decision was not supported by 27% of the members present, some 50 countries.  That is a step forward for the Palestinian FA. FIFA president Infantino said that “We …