Palestinian Players, Clubs Sue FIFA And UEFA Presidents Gianni Infantino, Aleksander Čeferin At ICC

Palestinian players, clubs, and landowners have filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino and UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin of "war crimes and crimes against humanity" tied to the colonization of stadiums by the State of Israel.

The complaint, described as a 120-page document, was transmitted on February 16 to the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC and targets "the inclusion of Israeli football clubs based in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory built on land stolen from the Palestinian people".

Agence Media Palestine

RTL Info says the plaintiffs include Palestinian footballers, clubs, landowners, and a Palestinian human rights organization, while SO FOOT says sixteen Palestinian landowners, players, and football clubs have filed the complaint.

SO FOOT adds that eleven clubs are currently located in illegal settlements in the West Bank, and it cites Jill Thomson of the NGO Scottish Sport for Palestine saying the Palestinian federation has asked FIFA to exclude settlement clubs because they constitute "a grave violation of Palestinian human rights."

RTL Info reports that UEFA rejected the accusations in a statement sent to The Athletic, saying, "The accusations aimed at our president are as sensationalist as they are unfounded," and that UEFA "will not give further credence to these claims."

In the same RTL Info account, FIFA had not responded to requests at the time of publication, while Israel rejects conclusions of the United Nations and the International Court of Justice that all settlements in the occupied West Bank violate international law.

Anadolu Ajansi

SO FOOT frames the dispute through a former Palestinian professional player exiled in Egypt, who laments that FIFA "takes the side of Israeli teams" even though "it is the occupying forces that killed these players."

SO FOOT also points to the killing of Suleiman Al-Obeid, described as the "Palestinian Pele," who was killed last summer in the Gaza Strip at the age of 41.

The complaint’s procedural path is laid out by RTL Info as the ICC Office of the Prosecutor conducting a preliminary examination to determine whether the elements justify opening a formal investigation.

In parallel to the ICC filing, Susan Shalabi, vice president of the Palestinian Football Association, said Palestine has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s decision not to sanction the Israeli occupation’s teams whose clubs are based in the settlements in the West Bank.

“Palestine: European sanctions on Israeli settlers and organizations a significant step”

Anadolu Ajansi

Shalabi told Reuters that the appeal was filed on April 20, and she said, "Since we have exhausted all legal avenues available within FIFA, we will comply with the rules and regulations, and we will appeal this decision because we consider it extremely unfair."

The same report says Shalabi also addressed visa problems for entering Canada to attend the FIFA conference in Vancouver, noting that visas were issued only after "political, social, and media pressure" and that federation president Jibril Rajoub was expected to arrive later.

In a separate but related development, the General Assembly of the West Asia Football Federation reaffirmed its full support for moves by the Executive Committee to assist the Palestinian Football Association during the sixteenth meeting of the General Assembly chaired by Prince Ali bin Hussein.

The stakes described in the report are that Palestinian football remains "dire," with Shalabi saying in Gaza "all football facilities are either unusable or destroyed" and that "we have lost hundreds of players, most of them children."