Israeli football is starting the 2025/26 season seriously offside: UEFA, the football federation of all European associations, of which Israel is a part, is threatening that continuation of the war in Gaza, and the continued incidents of racism and violence surrounding Israeli football, will legitimize the question of excluding Israeli clubs and the national team from various events, while FIFA, the football organization uniting all continental federations, is conducting a long process which began even before the war, to exclude Israeli football due to its attitude towards the Palestinian association and Palestinian football.
The possibility of Israel and Israeli clubs being excluded from European group-level competitions, continental tournaments for national and youth teams, and perhaps even the World Cup, has devastating economic implications for the sport. The income from participation in UEFA competitions goes to all licensed clubs in Israel, even those that do not participate in the continental tournament games themselves that season. Take, for example, a small team, such as Kiryat Shmona’s Ironi, which enjoyed an income of over 750,000 shekels last season simply by virtue of being a professional team. This income constitutes more than 5% of the club’s budget.
Last week, UEFA held the Super Cup match, the event that officially opens the football season. At the opening ceremony of the match between the European champion, Paris Saint-Germain of France, and the Europa League title holder, Tottenham of England, UEFA made sure to highlight a sign spread out on the pitch: “Stop killing children. Stop killing civilians.” On the face of it, this is a message the Israeli public can also relate to. The children invited to the ceremony by the European football organization were from Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and also from Gaza. The two Gazan children were the only ones honored by UEFA to participate in the ceremony awarding the medals and trophy to the winning team. To make it clear that Israeli football is on probation, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin of Slovenia added, in an interview he gave after the match: “It is absolutely legitimate to ask why Israel is not suspended.”
Some fans, public figures, and even soccer professionals in Israel will argue, “So we won’t participate – who cares?” But soccer teams in Israel and the Football Association should care – a lot. In the 2023-24 season, Maccabi Haifa received over 11 million euros from UEFA, Maccabi Tel Aviv more than 8 million euros, Hapoel Be’er Sheva about 750,000 euros, and Beitar Jerusalem about 450,000 euros. Last year, thanks to Maccabi Tel Aviv’s qualification for the group stage, each team in the Premier League received about 750,000 shekels, in addition to tens of thousands of shekels for teams in the national league. Excluding Israel from European events will result in a fatal blow: an exodus of investors, a decline in the level of foreign players, a danger of teams closing down, and a dramatic decline in the attractiveness of the sport, perhaps even to the point of harming its existence.
To add to the challenges of the Football Association and the Football Leagues, FIFA is also changing its approach and expanding consequences for manifestations of racism and violence by fans in the stands and by footballers and officials. Among other things, FIFA raised the fines to make them deterrent. They decided to impose suspension of up to ten games for players who make racist remarks, authorize referees to pause and even stop games, bring back radius penalties at the national team level, and also the possibility of league relegation. FIFA recently announced that during the 2025-26 season it will send inspectors to fields around the world, including Israel, to ensure that the instructions regarding violence and racism are indeed enforced.
Therefore, as we are moments before the opening whistle for a new season, it is precisely the time to call out industry captains, the association heads, the professional leagues’ administrators, the club owners and officials, the players, and the fans: Israeli football is now under a magnifying glass, facing close scrutiny by those who manage European and world football. In all of our actions – in the stands, on the field and off – there is potential for self-destruction that will result in international suspension and ostracism. It is clear that these issues seem marginal compared to the excitement surrounding who scored and who was substituted, but they are the heart of the industry. If Israeli football continues the trend of racist and violent incidents that lead to the cessation of matches, if football players of Arab origin are attacked by fans or officials, if violence continues to rage, we will ultimately find ourselves outside the international arena and this will have a painful and devastating economic price. If we fail to change the trend and no response is provided, Israeli soccer could collapse.
Matan Segal is the Director of the “Kick It Out” program at Givat Haviva
Photo from the UEFA Facebook page; use in accordance with section 27a.
