Game Over Israel

„It’s coming home“

The controversy surrounding the sport dimension of the Israel-Palestine question also reached Germany this winter. On 11 December 2025, a UEFA Europa League match involving Israeli football club Maccabi Tel Aviv took place in Stuttgart, and another match is scheduled for 22 January 2026 in Freiburg. Due to serious security concerns, the Baden-Württemberg police, with the support of emergency services from other federal states, planned a large-scale operation to prevent riots. The police rejected calls to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from the stadium, like in Birmingham at the match against Aston Villa. Despite a massive police presence, the away supporters in Stuttgart engaged in derogatory chants, with some even showing Nazi salutes.

This security issue could have been avoided if UEFA had comprehensively excluded Israeli teams from European competition. In November, various human rights organisations and professional footballers, as well as international legal experts and national associations, called on UEFA to do so. Back in October, a group of UN special rapporteurs demanded that FIFA investigate violations of international law by Israeli football clubs. This article examines the legal basis for suspending national association within the UEFA legal framework and explains why UEFA is obliged to do so in the case of the Israel Football Association (IFA) for legal, not political reasons.

History and Legal Framework of Exclusions of National Sports Associations Due to Violations of International Law

The power of sport to bring people together is used globally to strengthen diplomatic relations, but also to improve the reputation of states with dubious human rights records (on the phenomenon of ‘sportwashing’: Hestermann, p. 138 f.). Integration in international sports competitions provides international legitimacy to the countries associated with the athletes and teams. In order to deprive countries that violate international law of these privileges, various exclusions have been implemented in the past for reasons unrelated to sport.

Prominent examples include the exclusion of South Africa from Olympic sports to isolate the apartheid regime, the Yugoslavian national team from the 1992 European Championships due to its war against national minorities, and most recently, the Russian and Belarusian associations just a few days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Despite these historic precedents, the breaches of international law by Israel in its military campaign in Gaza and its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories did not have any major consequences for its sports associations. This is particularly due to the close economic and diplomatic ties between the State of Israel and its Western allies, but it is also a result of the fact that there is no uniform set of rules across all sports for sanctioning violations of international law by states (for a general discussion, see Schiffbauer, p. 43 ff.). However, the often complicated questions of international law subject character of and the attribution to national sports associations (Schiffbauer, p. 55 ff.) only arise to a limited extent if the association system in question has a system of sanctions in place to respond to violations of the umbrella organisation’s statutes by its national member associations. This is the case in the UEFA system.

UEFA’s Legal and Compliance Framework

UEFAs objectives are laid out in Article 2 (1) of its Statutes:

„The objectives of UEFA shall be to:

1. a) deal with all questions relating to European football;
2. b) promote football in Europe in a spirit of peace, understanding and fair play, without any discrimination on account of politics, gender, religion, race or any other reason;

[…]

1. d) organise and conduct international football competitions and tournaments at European level for every type of football whilst respecting the players’ health;

[…]”.

To promote these objectives, national member associations are subject to the following obligations, in accordance with Article 7bis (1) of the UEFA Statutes:

1. “to observe the principles of loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship in accordance with the principles of fair play;
2. to comply with these Statutes and regulations and decisions made under them as well as the decisions of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne (Switzerland)”

In addition, Article 7bis (7) of the UEFA Statutes requires member associations to implement an effective policy to eliminate racism and all other forms of discrimination, including the enforcement of sanctions against such behaviour.

To safeguard these objectives and obligations of the value system against violations by national member associations, Article 9 of the UEFA Statutes provides for a suspension mechanism:

“1 If, in the opinion of the Executive Committee, a Member Association has committed a serious breach of these Statutes or regulations or decisions made under them, the Executive Committee shall be entitled to suspend the membership of the Member Association with immediate effect.

1bis A Member Association may in particular be suspended if state authorities interfere in its affairs in such a significant way that:

1. a) it may no longer be considered as fully responsible for the organisation of football-related matters in its territory;
2. b) it is no longer in a position to perform its statutory tasks in an appropriate manner;
3. c) the smooth running of a competition organised under its auspices is no longer guaranteed; […]

2 Any suspension shall be submitted to the next Congress for consideration as to whether or not the Member Association should be excluded, or the suspension lifted or continued. If the Congress does not consider the matter, the suspension shall cease.”

The Israel Football Association (IFA) has been a full member of UEFA since 1994. To comply with formal requirements, a decision by the Executive Committee and referral to the UEFA Congress would be necessary. An attempt to achieve such a vote was in September 2025, but it was postponed despite a clear majority in favour of exclusion. Due to the association’s legal competence, no prior instruction from the IOC or any other international organisation such as the UN is required.

The Substantive Requirements for Suspension under Article 9 of the UEFA Statutes

Regarding the substantive requirements, a serious violation of the objectives set out in Article 2 of the UEFA Statutes can be assumed in accordance with Article 9 (1) of the UEFA Statutes. Pursuant to Article 1(1) and (2) of the UEFA Statutes, UEFA is a company under Swiss law in accordance with Article 60 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code and is therefore subject to both national law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Therefore, the provisions of the ECHR have to be taken into account in the interpretation of the UEFA statutes and their judicial control by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) (Lungstras, p. 212 f.). Particular consideration must be given here to the duty to protect the right to life under Art. 2 (1) ECHR, the prohibition of torture under Art. 3 ECHR, the right to liberty and security under Art. 5 ECHR and the right to a fair trial under Art. 6 ECHR.

According to Amnesty International, more than 800 Palestinian athletes, including over 400 footballers by data from the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), had been killed by the Israeli army by 1 October 2025. These deaths are part of a context in which more than 100,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army. Numerous international law scholars classify these killings as crimes under international law. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although these (alleged) crimes under international law cannot be directly attributed to the IFA (for the criteria of attribution, see: Schiffbauer, p. 68 ff.), the association has taken insufficient measures to condemn them. By continuing to operate and tolerating racist riots by various ultra groups of Israeli clubs, the association has violated its obligations to promote the objectives set out in Art. 2, Art. 7bis (1) of the UEFA Statutes.

Further violations arise from the continuation of matches on the territory of Palestinian football clubs by at least six Israeli football clubs. This constitutes a violation of Article 64 (2) of the FIFA Statutes (“Member associations and their clubs may not play on the territory of another member association without the latter’s approval.”), which UEFA is at least called upon to protect within the framework of its cooperation with FIFA within the meaning of Article 3, Article 2 (1) (m) of the UEFA Statutes.

In the specific case of the IFA, the special grounds for suspension under Article 9 (1) (b) and (c) are also fulfilled. In view of the ongoing violations of international law by the State of Israel during the 25/26 season, these can be considered state interference in the running of the competition, which prevents the “smooth running of a competition organised under its auspices” in accordance with Art. 9 (1) (c). As a result, the IFA is no longer able to fulfil its obligations under Art. 2 and Art. 7bis (1) of the UEFA Statutes within the meaning of Art. 9 (1bis) c). There can be no sporting activity in accordance with the principles of Fair Play as defined in the DEFINITIONS OF Terms Nr. 7, Art. 2 (1) b UFEA Statutes within a state that faces substantiated accusations of apartheid and crimes under international law. Human rights organisations have observed an increase in racist and violence-glorifying incidents among ultra groups of various Israeli sports clubs, as well as matches being called-off due to acts of violence.

The Legal Obligation to Exclude Due to Zero Discretion in Cases of Ius Cogens Violations

The suspension clause in Article 9 (1) of the UEFA Statutes is designed as an “entitlement clause”, according to which such exclusion “can” be decided by the Executive Committee. In the case of serious violations, especially violations of mandatory provisions of international law (ius cogens norms), however, the discretionary power granted can be reduced to zero. These include violations of the prohibition of genocide, crimes against humanity, the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law, racial discrimination and apartheid, slavery, torture and the right of peoples to self-determination (Schiffbauer, p. 75 f.). Schiffbauer contends that these provisions of international law have to be incorporated into the sports association’s statutes, otherwise leaving discretionary leeway to the competent bodies. Given the fundamental nature of ius cogens norms, that make them hierarchically superior to other rules of international law and grant universal applicability, it is doubtable that such an incorporation into statutory law is even necessary. No explicit incorporation of international law provisions can be found within the UEFA statutes. However, Article 64 (1) UEFA Statutes states that the “Statutes shall be governed in all respect by Swiss law”. Switzerland has been a party to the Genocide Convention since 2000. The duty to prevent Genocide should therefore be taken into account in the interpretation of the UEFA’s Statutes.

During Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, international genocide experts have increasingly come to the conclusion that it meets the criteria for genocide under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) already affirmed the plausibility of the violation of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza under the Genocide Convention in South Africa’s case against Israel and subsequently required Israel in several orders to take measures to prevent genocidal acts and improve the humanitarian situation. While early assessments by organisations such as the Lemkin Institute were made as early as December 2023 and by Amnesty International in December 2024, various international expert groups came to this conclusion in the course of 2025, in particular B’tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), and various experts in international law. Most recently, this analysis was confirmed by the conclusion of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. It is not possible to wait for the final authoritative decision by the ICJ in the main proceedings South Africa v. Israel, since it  may not be issued until 2027 or later. This would fail the purpose of the instrument of suspending national sports associations, namely to prevent states to abuse sport as a forum for strengthening their own illegal policies and to compel the sports association to comply with the umbrella organisation’s regulations (Schiffbauer p. 74).

The Legal Design and Consequences of a Compliant Suspension That Safeguards Athletes’ Rights

The suspension of the IFA from UEFA would specifically result in the exclusion of Israeli football teams from the Europa League. Furthermore, national teams would be excluded from participating in other European football competitions organised by UEFA. In addition, funding for the Israeli association would be cancelled and its voting rights in the umbrella organisation suspended. This would affect the rights of the clubs and associations concerned, but also of those of the athletes organised under it, some of whom are involuntarily. In particular, this would affect the freedom of association guaranteed in Article 11 of the ECHR, the right to non-discrimination under Article 14 of the ECHR and the individually protected right of athletes and clubs to free economic activity. Furthermore, exclusion would have to comply with the principles of equal treatment and proportionality under association law. In the case of the exclusion of the Russian association, the CAS found no violations of these principles (para. 138 ff.).

Similar to the statement by Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Rapporteur on cultural rights, on the exclusion of Russian athletes, however, a blanket exclusion of athletes from sporting competitions solely on the basis of their nationality violates the principles of universality and non-discrimination and the principle of fairness to guarantee access to sporting competitions. The suspension of the Israeli Football Association by UEFA would therefore have to provide for opportunities in national team competitions for Israeli athletes to participate “under a neutral flag” and at a distance from the nation state behind it. The IFA, as the association concerned, as well as football clubs and individual athletes, would be entitled to legal protection before the CAS in accordance with Article 61 of the UEFA Statutes.

Conclusion: A Mandatory Suspension from UEFA Statutes, European Human Rights Law and International Law, While Ensuring Access to Participation for Individual Athletes

The legal requirements for the suspension of the Israeli Football Association (IFA) by UEFA are met. Due to the statutory requirements, UEFA’s (indirect) commitment to the ECHR and against the background of obligations under international law, the discretion provided for in this case is reduced to zero in the case of the IFA, resulting in an obligation to exclude it. The documented serious violations of international law by the Israeli state and the IFA’s failure to condemn them are incompatible with the fundamental values of European football and no longer allow it to provide a platform for them. The suspension can be made compliant by safeguarding the rights of Israeli individual athletes to access international competitions through exemptions in the form of participation under a neutral flag.