Following the Palestinian complaints, FIFA excluded the Israeli settlement club, but fined the Israeli FA for discrimination violations.
Published March 19, 2026
FIFA has fined the Israel Football Association (IFA) 150,000 Swiss francs (approximately $190,700) for “multiple violations” of its anti-discrimination obligations.
In a report on Thursday, world football’s governing body’s disciplinary committee found IFA had “failed to take meaningful action against Beitar Jerusalem” over “persistent and well-documented acts of racism”.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
In October 2024, the Palestinian Football Association reported allegations of discrimination by IFA to FIFA, and FIFA began an investigation.
FIFA did not choose the sanctions sought by the Palestinian Football Federation, which had argued for IFA’s suspension.
However, in a lengthy decision released by the IFA’s disciplinary committee, it listed several incidents of racism in Israeli football and found that it had not “adhered to FIFA’s statutory objectives”.
The disciplinary committee highlighted “inadequate and substantially inappropriate” sanctions against Israeli club Beitar for racist and discriminatory behavior.
“Supporters engage in persistent and well-documented racist behavior,” the report said of Beitar’s fans.
“The club’s use of slogans such as ‘Forever Pure’ and its repeated invocation of ethnic slurs such as ‘terrorist’ towards Arab players are not isolated incidents, but rather form part of a systematic pattern of behavior that violates basic rules of civil behavior and brings the sport into disrepute.”
“The committee stressed that the club in question is just one example of the overall failure by the IFA.”
FIFA also announced that it had issued a warning to IFA and ordered it to display “large and prominent banners” reading “Football unites the world – against discrimination” at the next three home matches of FIFA competitions.
The IFA must invest a third of the fine into implementing a plan to “ensure action against discrimination and prevent incidents from happening again”.
Following a separate investigation, FIFA has announced that it will not take any action against IFA over allegations that Israeli clubs based in the occupied West Bank are participating in Israeli leagues.
