FIFA’s reported Israel vs. Palestine match proposal is shameful

FIFA is “proposing that the opening match of their inaugural under-15s football festival should be Israel against Palestine,” according to reporting by The Athletic, which cited sources with knowledge of the plans. When I read the news, I literally shook my head in disbelief. This eye-wateringly corrupt and politically opportunistic soccer organization might just be on the brink of outdoing itself, once again, with this exploitative spectacle.

The backstory to the proposed match is FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s awkward failure to orchestrate a photo op between the vice president of the Israel Football Association and the president of the Palestinian Football Association at the FIFA Congress in April. After being called on to a stage together, the PFA president, Jibril Rajoub, refused to shake hands with his Israeli counterpart despite pleas from Infantino. Instead, Rajoub faced the audience and shouted, “We are suffering!”

It appeared Infantino was trying to posture as a grand peace broker ahead of announcing that he would be running for another term as president — a cushy gig that pays more than $6 million a year. But instead of being humbled by his amateur diplomatic backfire, he seems to be doubling down in the strangest way: by proposing the two youth teams face off against each other in the opening match of a new tournament.

The whole setup smacks of an empty showman trying to profit off one of the most high-profile geopolitical conflicts in the world — and one in which one party has engaged in an ongoing ethnic cleansing and a genocidal military operation against the other.

International sports tournaments certainly do stir up international political tensions from time to time. But those matchups happen unpredictably, through a combination of random draws and coinciding ranking in a contest. And it’s understood that no matter how high emotions run, the game is ultimately just a game.