Calls to suspend the FIFA World Cup qualifier between Italy and Israel, scheduled for 14 October in Udine, northwest Italy, have been remarkably intense and widespread. A public petition quickly gained more than 15,000 signatures, civic and political organizations formed an oppositional network, Udine’s mayor Alberto De Toni, and even the Italian Football Coaches Association (AIAC) publicly called for the match to be called off.
Some appeals, like that of the Udine mayor, suggested a ‘temporary suspension,’ calling it ‘inopportune’ to play football during ‘a tragedy with no equals in the last eighty years.’ Others, including the AIAC and dozens of civic and cultural associations, went further, demanding Israel’s suspension from all international competitions while the genocide continues.
This is not a new demand. Similar appeals have been raised in football (to FIFA and UEFA), basketball (to FIBA), and the Olympic movement ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Activists argue that international sports federations should apply the same standards that followed the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Then, it took just four days for FIFA and UEFA — led by Aleksander Čeferin — to ban all Russian teams from international competition.
Assaults on infrastructure
Aside from the clear double standard regarding Israel, activists have noted the targeted destruction of Gaza’s sporting infrastructure and killings of numerous athletes and coaches. Since the start of the Gaza offensive, Israeli forces have devastated the Strip’s sports facilities. Stadiums and football pitches — including several funded by FIFA — have been reduced to rubble.
Among them was the official stadium of the Palestinian national team, first bombed by Israel in 2006, then rebuilt in 2019 with FIFA funding, then bombed again. The historic Yarmouk Stadium meanwhile gained grim notoriety after footage emerged of hundreds of Palestinian men and boys herded onto the pitch, many stripped and blindfolded.
The Palestinian Football Association reports that, as of August 2025, more than 355 players have been killed – about half of the 774 athletes estimated to have died in Gaza since October 2023. These attacks, part of Israel’s wider assault on civilian infrastructure, also violate the FIFA statute and the Olympic Charter.
National identity and international legitimacy
Responding to renewed calls for sanctions, UEFA president Čeferin has said that suspending Israel would change nothing. His claim that sporting bans are ‘useless’ ignores the history of effective sports boycotts that targeted Apartheid South Africa between the 1960s and 1980s. That boycott was particularly powerful because of the cultural status of sport in South Africa, where rugby and cricket were central to white national identity.
Being banned from international sporting competitions (including Olympic Games, World Cups and Cricket Tours) not only denied South Africa cultural legitimacy on the world stage, it also helped mobilise global awareness. This in turn weakened the regime’s claim to normalcy, and compounded diplomatic and economic pressure.
Sport plays a similar role in Israel. Football, basketball, and Olympic representation are not just games; they are pillars of national identity and instruments to project the nation and its legitimacy abroad. As scholar Jonathan Dart noted, international sport is a crucial platform for Israel’s global image.
Recognition of this fact has intensified protests by athletes, coaches, and fans around the world. Echoing the anti-apartheid motto, ‘No normal sport in an abnormal society,’ these outspoken members of sporting communities are arguing that there can be no ‘normal sport’ for a state waging a 24-month genocidal war – as defined by leading genocide scholars and United Nations.
Effective action
Recent international mobilizations underlined the profoundly abnormal moment we are in. During the Vuelta cycling race in Spain, for example, nearly every village along the route displayed Palestinian flags, along with prominent banners reading: ‘Stop the genocide’, ‘Israel is a murderer’ and ‘Free Palestine’. Demonstrations forced the September 3 stage in Bilbao to end three kilometres early. On September 14, the final stage and closing ceremony were cancelled after pro-Palestinian demonstration blocked occupied parts of the route.
Despite Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly praising ‘Israel’s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation’, under pressure the Israel–Premier Tech cycling team removed the word ‘Israel’ from its riders’ jerseys, in practice erasing a symbolic instrument of soft power.
Football, basketball, and Olympic representation are not just games; they are pillars of national identity and instruments to project the nation and its legitimacy abroad
The protests along the Vuelta’s route illustrate how sport can become a stage for political and moral debate, extending far beyond individual events or races. On 15 September, a day after the Vuelta’s cancelled closing ceremony, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez became the first head of state to publicly call for a ban on Israel from international sporting events.
A week later, bike manufacturer Factor Bikes announced it would end sponsorship of the Israel–Premier Tech cycling team unless the team changed its name and disassociated from the Israeli national identity.
Mounting pressure
In Udine, the 14 October protests are designed to keep the pressure on and secure Israel’s suspension from international sport. The AIAC president has summed up the position felt by so many: ‘It would only be possible to play by looking the other way — but we believe that is not right.’
For now, it remains unclear if UEFA, FIFA, and other international federations will impose bans. Their inaction only allows Israel to maintain a visible arena of international political legitimation amid its war in Gaza.
Growing international support for boycott campaigns and UN experts’ statements are reminding FIFA and UEFA of their legal and moral obligations. They also emphasise that sport constitutes a global, contested stage where apparently symbolic dimensions can often carry tangible implications.
As demonstrations and campaigns grow louder, more pervasive and sustained, calls to ban Israel from sporting events are no longer mere ‘background noise’. They are increasingly difficult to dismiss, for sport and non-sport institutions alike.
