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CAS 2017/A/5166 and 5405 Palestine Football Association v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Award of 9 July 2018

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Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration 2018–2020

Part of the book series: Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration ((YISA))

Abstract

This article deals with a case stemming originally from a complaint lodged in 2015 by the Palestine Football Association (“PFA”) with FIFA regarding six teams affiliated to the Israeli Football Association (“IFA”), which are physically located in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (“OPT”). In particular, the PFA claimed that a group of IFA-affiliated clubs were violating FIFA rules by playing on the PFA’s territory. After a long and tortuous consultation process, which included the creation of a dedicated Monitoring Committee, the FIFA Council decided in October 2017 to maintain the status quo and declined to sanction the IFA or the clubs. Both this decision and a related motion adopted by the FIFA Congress were appealed by the PFA to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This commentary reviews the ensuing CAS Award and concludes that it constituted a missed opportunity as it failed to tackle the main questions at the heart of the dispute.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At the time of writing the commentary, the State of Palestine currently enjoys recognition from 139 States. See https://palestineun.org/about-palestine/diplomatic-relations/ Accessed 21 May 2022.

  2. 2.

    Azarova 2017, p. 1.

  3. 3.

    See for example UN General Assembly Res 72/14 (30 November 2017) and Res 3236 (XXIX) (22 November 1974).

  4. 4.

    See for example UN Human Rights Council Resolution 31/36 (20 April 2016).

  5. 5.

    See International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [2004] (Advisory Opinion) ICJ Rep 136, para 120.

  6. 6.

    United Nations, UN Envoy Condemns Latest Israeli Settlement Expansion Plan. UN News, 12 May 2022. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118122. Accessed 3 June 2022.

  7. 7.

    Azarova 2017; Farah and Abdallah 2019; Van Ho 2020.

  8. 8.

    Amnesty International, Destination Occupation: Digital Tourism and Israel’s Illegal Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/01/destination-occupation-digital-tourism-israel-illegal-settlements/ Accessed 3 June 2022; Amnesty International UK, Think Twice: Can companies do business with Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories while respecting human rights?, 19 March 2019, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2019-03/Think%20Twice%20report.pdf?BrN9N0VX3RkzTJROuKYC46LE43hCPtTu = Accessed 3 June 2022.

  9. 9.

    Human Rights Watch, Israel/Palestine: FIFA Sponsoring Games on Seized Land, 25 September 2016, http://www.hrw.org/news/2016/09/25/israel/palestine-fifa-sponsoring-games-seized-land. Accessed 3 June 2022.

  10. 10.

    Ibid.

  11. 11.

    CAS 2017/A/5166 & 5405 Palestine Football Association v. FIFA, Award of 9 July 2018, para. 6.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.

  13. 13.

    Ibid.

  14. 14.

    Ibid., para. 13.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., para. 16.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.

  18. 18.

    Ibid., para 17.

  19. 19.

    CAS 2017/A/5166 (“CAS 5166”).

  20. 20.

    Sari Bashi, Tokyo Sexwale Should Answer for Delays Blamed for More Soccer on Stolen Land (Daily Maverick, 23 May 2017) https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/05/23/tokyo-sexwale-should-answer-delays-blamedmore-soccer-stolen-land accessed 20 May 2022.

  21. 21.

    Full text of Tokyo Sexwale Chairman’s report to FIFA on Palestine-Israel (Medium, 28 October 2017) https://medium.com/@daoudkuttab/full-text-of-tokyo-sexwalechairmans-report-to-fifa-on-palestine-israel-53c27c909a5b accessed 20 May 2022.

  22. 22.

    Ibid., para. 5.

  23. 23.

    Ibid., para. 6.4.

  24. 24.

    Ibid.

  25. 25.

    FIFA, FIFA Council Statement on the Final Report by the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, 27 October 2017. https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/fifa-council/media-releases/fifa-council-statement-on-the-final-report-by-the-fifa-monitoring-comm-2917741. Accessed 13 May 2022.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., para. 5.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., para. 3.

  28. 28.

    CAS 2017/A/5405 (“CAS 5405”).

  29. 29.

    CAS 2017/A/5166 & 5405 Palestine Football Association v. FIFA, Award of 9 July 2018, para. 50.

  30. 30.

    Ibid., para. 70.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., para. 76.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., para. 79.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., para. 80.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., para. 81.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., para. 83.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., para. 85.

  40. 40.

    Ibid., para. 86.

  41. 41.

    Ibid., para. 87.

  42. 42.

    Ibid.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., para. 96.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., para. 99.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., para. 100, italics in the original.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., para. 101.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., para. 104.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., para. 107.

  49. 49.

    Ibid., para 28 and also FIFA, FIFA Council Statement on the Final Report by the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine, 27 October 2017. https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/fifa-council/media-releases/origin1904-p.cxm.fifa.comfifa-council-statement-on-the-final-report-by-the-fifa-monitoring-comm-2917741. Accessed 13 May 2022.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., para. 107.

  51. 51.

    Ibid., para. 108.

  52. 52.

    Ibid., para. 109.

  53. 53.

    Ibid., para. 110.

  54. 54.

    Ibid., para. 111.

  55. 55.

    FIFA, Human Rights Policy, May 2017. https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1a876c66a3f0498d/original/kr05dqyhwr1uhqy2lh6r-pdf.pdf. Accessed 18 May 2022.

  56. 56.

    FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board, Report by the FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board, September 2017, https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/684bc3b9ec3f4811/original/ab2ywftc8qle92nghiee-pdf.pdf Accessed 13 May 2022.

  57. 57.

    For such an argument, see Andreas Zimmermann, Legal status of Israeli football clubs located in the occupied Palestinian territory and ensuing legal consequences for FIFA. April 2017. https://apidiakoniase.cdn.triggerfish.cloud/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/legal-status-of-israeli-football-clubs-located-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-ensuing-legal-consequences-for-fifa.pdf Accessed 13 May 2022.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Antoine Duval

  2. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Pedro José Mercado Jaén

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  1. Antoine Duval
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Correspondence to Antoine Duval .

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  1. ASSER International Sports Law Centre, T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Antoine Duval

  2. Faculté de droit, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Antonio Rigozzi

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Duval, A., Mercado Jaén, P.J. (2022). CAS 2017/A/5166 and 5405 Palestine Football Association v. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Award of 9 July 2018. In: Duval, A., Rigozzi, A. (eds) Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration 2018–2020. Yearbook of International Sports Arbitration. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/15757_2022_43

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/15757_2022_43

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