KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: European football federation UEFA, under increasing pressure from political and sporting spheres, may decide next week on demands to suspend Israel from all European competitions.

Various sources have suggested that diplomatic pressure from Qatar has encouraged many European federations who had been increasingly embarrassed at sharing tournament schedules with the Israeli national team and clubs.

Qatari anger had been sparked by the Israeli bombing of a complex in Doha housing officials the Hamas.

The Israel Football Association has been mobilising intensely across both diplomatic and sporting channels to prevent either a vote taking place or to block it being added to the agenda.

However, it is highly unlikely that UEFA would act unilaterally on such a proposal when world governing body FIFA has spent most of the last two decades putting off making a decision about Israeli teams’ participation in international competition.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has worked hard to ingratiate himself with President Donald Trump ahead of next year’s World Cup in central and north America and would be expected to delay any further debate – anywhere in the world game – until after the finals.

A US State Department spokesperson, reported by the BBC, said: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”

A complication is that Israel’s national team is currently competing in FIFA’s World Cup though organisation of the European qualifiers is being undertaken by UEFA.

Israel are set to play Norway in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo on October 11. Recently Norway FA president Lise Klaveness said her organisation “has to deal with Israel participating in their competitions, but cannot and will not be indifferent to the humanitarian suffering that is taking place in the region, especially the disproportionate attacks against civilians in Gaza.”

Israeli sources are on high alert not only because of the issue becoming high profile in football but that would carry a knock-on effect into other sports and their international competitions.

It is unclear what standard or criteria UEFA could use to justify any suspension/expulsion. Comparisons with Russia’s suspension. sparked by its brazen invasion of Ukraine, have been rejected by UEFA which has insisted publicly that the situations are different.

Shlomi Barzel, head of communication for IFA, is reported as sayn that Israel’s suspension would be “almost a deathblow to Israeli soccer.”

He added: “My estimation is that we will finish the current national teams event, but one more troublesome incident in Gaza, and everything can end in an instant.”

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