Palestinian soccer chief slams PM for ‘unprecedented’ FIFA interference

Any attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pressure FIFA over the issue of Israeli soccer clubs in the West Bank is unprecedented, says Palestinian football chief Jibril Rajoub.

Rajoub, speaking after the Asian Football Confederation’s congress in Bahrain, was responding to media reports that Netanyahu had personally telephoned FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The reports claimed that Netanyahu had urged the FIFA boss to halt world football’s governing body from discussing possible sanctions against six Israeli clubs from West Bank settlements at its annual congress later this week.

“What happened yesterday, the Israeli prime minister called Infantino and asked him to delete this item from the agenda of FIFA,” Rajoub says. “This has no precedent in the history of football,” he says.

The contentious issue of the clubs threatens to cast a shadow over FIFA’s congress, which takes place on May 11, also in Bahrain.

— AFP