February 22, 2026 – FIFA ignores the genocide in Gaza for two years and, in a hypocritical gesture, finances stadiums with $50 million while keeping Israel active in football.
FIFA, the world football governing body that rushed to sanction Russia after its military operation in Ukraine, has remained unmoved for more than two years in the face of the genocide perpetrated by the Israeli regime and the United States in Gaza.
The organization has rejected repeated requests from fans, human rights groups, UN rapporteurs and numerous governments to suspend the Israeli football team for the massacre of more than 72,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, most of them women and children.
However, suddenly and with a marked whiff of hypocrisy, FIFA decided to finance the construction of football facilities in the besieged and bloodied territory.
During the event called “Board of Peace”, chaired by US President Donald Trump in Washington, FIFA President Gianni Infantino formally pledged $50 million for football infrastructure in Gaza.
The package includes funding for a new stadium, training centers and the expansion of sports infrastructure in a territory where, after more than 28 months of genocide —which continues as this article is being written—, cemeteries outnumber residential neighborhoods.
Instead of suspending Israel for a war that even UN experts have explicitly described as genocide, FIFA opted for a more convenient path: donating to Gaza.
The announcement came approximately two months after the Spanish media outlet AS reported that, at a FIFA Council meeting in Doha, it was decided to allocate a portion of the revenue from the 2026 World Cup to “support Gaza”.
FIFA’s decision is revealing: it exposes an organization that is unwilling to confront mass murderers, but remarkably willing to fund firefighters.
The stated goal is to help the Palestinian people recover from a genocidal war that has dragged on for more than two years. But the hypocrisy is evident on multiple levels.
The apolitical pretext
The first layer is the doctrine of selective morality. FIFA insists on being “apolitical” when asked to sanction Israel, although it doesn’t hesitate to enter the political arena when it suits them.
The message from Zurich is unequivocal: suspending a federation is presented as a political act, while signing a check is sold as a humanitarian gesture.
Infantino has perfected this rhetorical balancing act. On October 2, faced with mounting pressure to act, he dismissed calls for a suspension, characterizing the crisis as a “geopolitical problem.”
“We are committed to using the power of football to unite people in a divided world,” he declared at the time, despite growing demands for action from FIFA.
This is the “apolitical” shield, which allows them to ignore the desperate calls from UN experts, who on September 23 urged FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel.
It was recalled that the obligations to prevent genocide are “imperative norms of international law applicable to everyone, at all times, without exception”, and that sport “must reject the perception that everything is business as usual”.
Normalization of injustice
Claiming to provide financial support to Gaza does not address the issue of accountability. Instead, it transforms a matter of legal and moral responsibility into one of disaster relief.
It allows FIFA to project compassion while dodging the toughest question: why does a member association linked to systematic genocide not face any sporting consequences?
The unrestricted war in Gaza has left more than 72,000 dead and 172,000 wounded, including footballers, and multiple stadiums and sports facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
In this context, FIFA’s financial promise risks commodifying the aftermath of genocidal violence, while simultaneously legitimizing the impunity of the aggressor.
As UN experts have warned, sports organizations “must not turn a blind eye to serious human rights violations, especially when their platforms are used to normalize injustices.”
By keeping Israel on the ground while writing checks to the victims, FIFA is doing precisely that: normalizing injustice. It signals that the destruction of Gaza is a tragedy that must be funded, not a crime that must be punished.
Liability in The Hague
This tension between so-called humanitarian gestures and institutional impunity has reached a new phase. On February 16, a detailed legal communication was formally submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Infantino and Aleksander Čeferin, the UEFA president.
The complaint alleges that they have assisted and facilitated war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, focusing on the continued inclusion of Israeli clubs located in illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.
These clubs are allowed to compete in leagues organized by the Israel Football Association and hold matches on confiscated land, while Palestinians are prohibited from attending, playing in, or managing the clubs.
The 120-page document, submitted by Palestinian footballers, clubs, landowners, and international advocacy groups, challenges FIFA and UEFA’s notion of neutrality and exposes the legal costs of pretending otherwise.
The Russian precedent
FIFA cannot claim that its double standards are accidental or bureaucratic. In 2022, it sanctioned Russia with record speed to protect the “integrity of football.”
Gaza puts that same integrity to the test, but the response could not be more different.
“It’s difficult to explain and understand that there’s a double standard,” said Spanish Sports Minister Pilar Alegría in September. “It’s important that, given this situation, the sports sector adopts a stance at least similar to the one taken against Russia.”
Former Manchester United captain Eric Cantona echoed this sentiment in London: “FIFA and UEFA must suspend Israel. Clubs worldwide should refuse to play against Israeli teams.”
By refusing to act, FIFA conveys that some civilian deaths violate football’s values more than others. When tanks rolled into Ukraine, the threat to the “football family” was deemed existential. When bombs fall on Gaza for two years, destroying stadiums and killing athletes, it’s a “geopolitical problem” that can be solved with a donation.
Whitewashing inaction
By pledging millions to Gaza while maintaining full integration with Israel, FIFA whitewashes its inaction under the guise of humanitarianism. It seeks moral credit without political consequences. This is not ethics, but accounting to balance its conscience.
On the one hand, it maintains the lucrative normality of international competition, pleasing sponsors and broadcasters; on the other, it allocates a fraction of billions to “support the Gaza Strip,” hoping that the glitter of philanthropy will hide its double standards.
The pressure isn’t just coming from high-ranking officials, but from the grassroots, from the fans whom FIFA claims to represent. The “Game Over Israel” campaign, launched in New York and funded by the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, has promoted a boycott through banners, displays, and stadium walkouts.
The executive committees of FIFA and UEFA remain paralyzed, hiding behind fragile ceasefires and endless debates to avoid doing what they did swiftly in 2022.
