A long-running diplomatic and sporting dispute over football in occupied Palestinian territories has escalated, as the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) has formally lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to challenge FIFA’s controversial refusal to impose sanctions on Israel. The global football governing body opted for no action against Israel over its operation of football clubs in illegal Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank, a ruling the PFA has decried as fundamentally unjust.
The root of this latest clash traces back to a formal complaint the PFA submitted to FIFA in 2024. After completing a months-long investigation into the allegations, FIFA released its ruling last month, arguing that the final legal status of the West Bank remains an unresolved, highly complex issue under public international law, justifying its decision to take no punitive measures against the Israel Football Association. This stance directly contradicts a prior ruling from the International Court of Justice, which has repeatedly affirmed that all Israeli settlements established in the occupied West Bank after the 1967 Six-Day War violate international law.
News of the April 20 appeal to CAS, the world’s highest authority for resolving international sporting legal disputes, was first confirmed by Reuters news agency. In an address to reporters on the sidelines of the Asian Football Confederation congress held in Vancouver, Canada, PFA vice president Susan Shalabi made clear the organization’s position: after exhausting all available internal appeal channels within FIFA’s governance structure, the PFA remains committed to following formal institutional processes to secure what it calls long-delayed justice.
“FIFA’s council has spent 15 years deliberating this issue and ultimately chose not to issue a decision,” Shalabi explained. “This outcome is deeply unjust, so the only remaining path open to us is to bring this appeal to CAS. We will see this full process through to the end until we achieve a just result.”
This latest development is only the most recent in a series of high-profile tensions between the PFA, FIFA and international stakeholders in recent months. Ahead of this week’s annual FIFA congress, also being hosted in Vancouver, three senior PFA officials, including organization president Jibril Rajoub, were initially denied entry visas by Canadian authorities. Canada is one of three co-hosts for the 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup alongside the United States and Mexico.
Following public political pressure and significant media attention, FIFA intervened to support the PFA’s request for entry, and most of the visa applications were ultimately approved. Shalabi confirmed Tuesday that Rajoub and the PFA’s general secretary will still attend the congress, though they are expected to arrive late. The PFA’s legal counsel remains blocked from entry, as their visa application was never approved. In a statement following the initial denials, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada declined to share specific details about individual cases, noting that all visa applications are reviewed individually based on the documentation submitted by each applicant.
Prior to the congress, Rajoub had been scheduled to deliver an address to assembled FIFA delegates specifically focused on the issue of Israeli football matches and clubs operating in occupied Palestinian territories. The current dispute is not an isolated incident: back in February, a coalition of six pro-Palestinian human rights and sports justice organizations – including Irish Sport for Palestine, Scottish Sport for Palestine, Just Peace Advocates, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and Sport Scholars for Justice in Palestine – filed a 120-page formal complaint with the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, according to reporting from The New York Times. The complaint names FIFA president Gianni Infantino and UEFA (European football’s governing body) president Aleksander Ceferin, and accuses both leaders of aiding and abetting war crimes through their institutions’ policies. The coalition argues that FIFA and UEFA have improperly allowed Israeli clubs to compete in leagues organized by the Israel Football Association, even when those clubs host matches on land seized and settled by Israel in the occupied territories.