FIFA and UEFA Keep Funding Israeli Football Body as Settlement Clubs Play in Its Leagues, Investigation Finds

Floodlights burn over a training pitch inside the Israeli settlement of Givat Ze'ev, footage accompanying the investigation shows, land that international law classifies as occupied Palestinian territory. A few kilometres away, Palestinian goalkeeper Mahdi al-Assi describes a different reality: setting off three or four hours before training only to be turned back at a checkpoint.

An investigation by Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism and Bridges Investigations for Middle East Eye has identified nine football clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that compete in Israeli domestic leagues with the recognition of the Israel Football Association. FIFA and UEFA, the investigation found, continue to recognise and financially support the IFA. FIFA's own streaming platform, FIFA+, broadcasts settlement club matches.

One of the named clubs, FC Ironi Ariel, plays out of the settlement of Ariel, established in 1978 on land Israel took from Palestinians in the Salfit area. Last year the settlement's mayor, Yair Shatbon, announced a long-term budget for sports development there, including a new stadium and an upgrade of Ironi Ariel's pitch to artificial turf meeting FIFA standards.

Across the same territory, the Palestinian Football Association's own league has been suspended entirely.

"We can't schedule the league, the gates could be shut at the time of a match," said Susan Shalabi, the association's vice-president.

Shalabi said the growth in electronic gates and checkpoints since Israel's 2022 elections, and especially since the war on Gaza began in October 2023, has made fixtures impossible to plan. Data obtained by the Palestinian Football Association counts 292 sports facilities completely or partially destroyed in Gaza and the West Bank since the war started.

Al-Assi, who plays for the Palestinian youth team, told MEE that Israeli forces have also stormed pitches during training. Unable to play organized matches since the league's suspension, he now trains privately at his own expense, still hoping to represent Palestine internationally.

Shalabi traces the settlement clubs' visibility back to 2013, when their details briefly appeared on the IFA's official website before being removed as international scrutiny grew. She said the number of such clubs has nearly doubled since, from five to around nine, without FIFA taking a position.

"FIFA just tells you to go back to the..." she said, according to the investigation, describing the governing body's response as a deflection rather than a decision.

A 2016 Human Rights Watch report had already criticised FIFA for funding matches held inside settlements, calling them illegal under international humanitarian law. Nearly a decade later, the investigation finds, FIFA's own broadcast platform still carries those games.