UEFA president clarifies his stance on excluding Israel from tournaments due to its aggression against Gaza.

The Slovenian Aleksander Čeferin, President of UEFA, revealed his stance on the numerous and repeated calls in recent times to exclude Israel from participating in UEFA tournaments at both the national and club levels due to the aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Israel has been waging a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, killing more than 63,000 civilians and injuring over 161,000 others. Despite this, it has not been punished by either FIFA or UEFA with exclusion from tournaments, as was the case with Russia, which entered into a war with Ukraine.

Čeferin claimed that he is not in favor of imposing sanctions on athletes on the grounds that they are not responsible for the wars waged by their countries.

He stated, in remarks highlighted by the British site "Give Me Sport," "What is happening to civilians there (in Gaza) hurts and pains me, but on the other hand, I am not in favor of imposing sanctions on athletes."

He added, "What can a player or athlete do for their government to stop the war? It is very difficult. Now, it has been about three and a half years since the exclusion of Russian teams; has the war between Russia and Ukraine stopped? No, it has not stopped."

At the same time, the UEFA president dismissed the prevailing belief that football can solve political crises between conflicting countries, emphasizing that this is "not true."

Čeferin continued, "I do not understand the fact that it is said that football should solve these problems (wars); this is absolutely impossible."

He concluded, "I cannot comprehend how a politician capable of doing so much to stop the massacre anywhere can go to sleep while seeing children and civilians dead."

Čeferin had appeared in mid-August with two Palestinian children, Tala (12 years old) and Mohammed (9 years old), during the medal presentation after the UEFA Super Cup match between Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur.

Before the start of that match, nine refugee children from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Palestine, and Ukraine held a banner that read, "Stop killing children, stop killing civilians."

The Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv is participating in the UEFA Europa League and will play in the group stage against teams such as Aston Villa (England), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Olympique Lyon (France), Bologna (Italy), as well as Freiburg and Stuttgart (Germany), PAOK Salonika (Greece), and Midtjylland (Denmark).

The Israeli national team is competing for a spot to qualify for the 2026 World Cup through the European qualifiers, where it is in Group 9 alongside Norway, Italy, Estonia, and Moldova.