Lagos – Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President said a
resolution would be reached between the Israel
Football Association (IFA) and the Palestine Football
Association (PFA) ahead of their congress in Zurich.
According to an online portal, Insidethegames, both
football bodies would meet next week after meeting
Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, on May 20.
It said that the PFA have submitted a proposal to
have IFA suspended from FIFA for imposing
restriction on the movement of their players between the
Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The portal noted that the issue was set to be voted on
during FIFA’s Congress, due to take place on May
28 to May 29 at their headquarters in the Swiss city.
It said that Blatter, aiming to secure a fifth term in
office, was hopefully that an agreement would be made
between the two feuding organisations.
According to him, this will happen following a meeting
with Ofer Eini, the IFA President and Netanyahu.
The portal said that the meeting was held between
Blatter, Eini and PFA President Jibril Rajoub,
where they agreed to “pursue dialogue” on the matter.
But the talks appeared to have been unsuccessful after
Rajoub refused to drop his organisation’s proposal.
“I have obtained a message which I will present
tomorrow to the Palestinian Football Association and
Palestinian politicians as part of my mission.
“I remain confident that we will find a solution for the
benefit of football development ahead of the FIFA
Congress.
“Football is nowadays such a strong organisation that
we should go into a peace situation and not into a
fighting situation, and football shall connect and not
divide people.
“I’m very happy about what Prime Minister
Netanyahu has said.
“Yes, football is stronger than all the problem there could
be and I’m sure we will find a solution,’’ it quoted
Blatter as saying.
Blatter, who would be challenged by three notable
personalities for his Presidency at the congress would
now meet with representative from Palestine to
continue the discussions.
They are Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the Jordanian
FA President, Michael Van Praag Royal Dutch
Football Association (KNVB) and Luis Figo, a
former Portuguese international.
According to the portal, if an agreement is not reached
before next week, the issue would go to a vote.
It said that if FIFA decide to upload the PFA’s
proposal, Israel could be banned from competing in its
international completions, such as the UEFA
Champions League and Euro qualifiers 2016.
The portal, however, said that this remained unlikely
as FIFA only usually enforce a suspension where
there was clear evidence of Government interfering
with the respective football associations.
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