The mystery of Israel’s UEFA identity: From Asian founding nation to European outcast, why it’s boycotted

During the 2026 World Cup qualifying window, the Israeli national team will face Norway and Italy. According to media reports, the Norwegian Football Association is one of the promoters of the disqualification of Israel from European football. They called on UEFA to convene a special meeting of the Executive Committee to vote on this issue.

In September, fans of the Italian national team turned their backs to the field during the playing of the Israeli national anthem and held up banners with "Stop" written on them in protest. The Italian Coaches Association also issued an open letter calling on UEFA and FIFA to suspend Israel's qualifications due to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Israel is currently ranked third in this qualifying group, behind Norway and Italy. These two key battles for Israel will be away from home. But why is Israel affiliated with UEFA? Let us look for answers from a historical perspective.

Historical origin:

Football is the most popular sport in Israel. The seeds of the sport were sown back in the Middle East during the Ottoman Empire. In 1906, two sports enthusiasts obtained permission from the Sultan to form the first Jewish sports society. They organized a group of teenagers who often played cloth balls on the beach and founded the "Maccabi" club. Today the club is not only the oldest club in Israel, but also the most decorated club, with a history that is even several years older than the city it represents - Tel Aviv.

In the same year, a French ship sailed into the port of Jaffa. Maccabi played its first "international" match against a team composed of sailors, and the home team defeated the sailors 3-0. A young Turkish army colonel, Mustafa Kemal, was also present on the ship. The football fan who later became the founding father of Türkiye not only supported the Besiktas club, but also facilitated a friendly match between Maccabi and the Sudanese national team. The match in Jaffa ended with 2-2, and Kemal scored the Turkish team's second goal himself.

The spread of football was interrupted by World War I, which completely changed the regional political landscape. The British expelled the Turks from Palestine and established a British colonial area.

The arrival of British soldiers and officials triggered a football craze. Football pitches were built in every garrison, and the number of competitions proliferated, with both Arab and Jewish teams invited to take part.

In 1922, Maccabi became the first Jewish team to participate in the Palestine Cup. The following year the event was held at the British Army Base in Sarafind - today the largest training base for the Israel Defense Forces.

With the emergence of new Jewish teams, the improvement of the competition system and the development of overseas tours, football is booming in Israel. This process was accelerated by naturalized players from Europe, whose migration saved their own lives during the Nazi takeover and World War II.

Predated internationally recognized football associations and national teams

But the Jewish community yearned for more - for the sporting achievements of British Palestine to gain international recognition. The 1924 Paris Olympics gave birth to the creation of the Palestinian/Israeli Football Association. Maccabi representatives submitted an application to Coubertin to join the International Olympic Committee.

The then President of the International Olympic Committee refused on the grounds that "Maccabi only united Palestinian Jewish sports organizations and did not cover the Arab and British communities." They then turned to FIFA, which suggested that they first establish a football association representing the entire Palestinian population.

After difficult preparations, the Palestinian Football Association was established in 1928. The first president of the Football Association was engineer Stephen Torok, one of the leaders of the Maccabi of Jerusalem.

The association joined FIFA the following year. Although nominally representing the entire British colonial zone, the national team consisted mainly of Jewish players.

In 1934, the Palestinian/Israeli national team had begun competing for tickets to the World Cup in Italy. They had to compete in two rounds with Egypt, the strongest team in the Middle East at the time. The visiting team even visited the Pyramids before the game in Cairo. Before the game, the coaches held a traditional tea party, and the British military band played the national anthems of the two countries. When the "Hope Song" was played, the Israeli flag was raised. But Egypt won 7-1 at home and also won 4-1 in Tel Aviv.

Palestinian/Israeli captain Pinhas Fidler was later killed defending Jerusalem during the First Middle East War. Mohamed Latif, who scored for Egypt in both legs, was captured by the Israeli army. The guards recognized the Egyptian international and released him.

In the 1938 World Cup preliminaries, the Israeli team lost to Greece 1-3 and 0-1. The cause of the defeat was attributed to insufficient physical reserves.

One of the founding countries of the AFC

On May 14, 1948, with the end of British colonial rule, the Jewish National Council led by Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the state of Israel in accordance with United Nations resolutions. The next day, a coalition of five Arab countries attacked Israel, and the first Middle East war broke out. In the end, Israel won and was able to expand its territory and gain access to the Red Sea, while the Palestinian Arabs were forced to leave their homes.

In the same year, the Israel Football Association announced its establishment. The AFC began operations in 1954, with Israel becoming one of the 12 founding members. The first Asian Cup was held two years later. The team from the "Promised Land" won the silver medal, but it had a special background - only South Korea, South Vietnam and Hong Kong participated in the finals, and Arab countries, New China and North Korea all boycotted the event.

A dramatic scene occurred in the 1958 World Cup preliminaries: Israel could have gone straight to the World Cup without competing. Türkiye refused to participate in the Asian qualifiers, Indonesia withdrew due to its refusal to play in neutral venues, and Sudan also announced its withdrawal. According to the rules, Israel should automatically advance.

This is contrary to FIFA's regulations, so a play-off match with European teams was added. Belgium refused to participate and Wales accepted the invitation. Israel lost both games and missed out on qualifying for the World Cup.

However, the Israeli national team won the Asian Cup in 1964, but 11 of the 16 participating teams withdrew before the game. It is worth mentioning that the game lasted only 80 minutes. Winning the local trophy has become a trigger to stimulate the Arab football community.

At the same time, Tel Aviv's Hapoel and Maccabi clubs performed well in the Asian Club Championship, winning three trophies together. The Iraqi Police Club even boycotted the final in 1971.

The 1970 World Cup was the only time Israel qualified for the main draw. They qualified from the "Asia and Oceania" division. Because North Korea refused to play in Israel, the team eliminated New Zealand and Australia one after another.

In the World Cup in Mexico, Israel was in the same group as Italy, Uruguay and Sweden. The historic moment was created by Mordecai Spiegler, who scored Israel's first World Cup goal against Sweden. Facing eventual runner-up Italy, they drew 0-0 but were eliminated at the bottom of the group.

Spiegler scored 10 goals in 13 games while playing for Paris Saint-Germain in the 1970s, and later played alongside soccer king Pele in the New York Cosmos. In November 2003, UEFA selected him as Israel's best player of the past 50 years.

Boycotted by Arab countries and expelled from the AFC

The 1973 Yom Kippur War ended in Israel's victory. Tehran hosted the Asian Games the following year—a time before the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and women dressed fashionably without headscarves. As an ally of the United States, King Pahlavi has a friendly attitude towards Israel. But the Arab public showed strong hostility towards Israeli players.

"Iranian Jews welcomed us warmly and gave us gifts, but before the final they warned that they could not attend the game. Someone marked their house. On the way to the stadium, people threw dead chickens and various debris at us. We were escorted by special forces. After entering the stadium filled with 120,000 people, every spectator was given a whistle. At that moment, I felt weak in the knees, it was really scary. " Israeli captain Yehoshua Feigenbaum recalled.

The audience in the stands chanted "Death to Golda Meir!" (the fourth Prime Minister of Israel). Players began to fear for their lives. When a player scores an own goal, the whole team responds with understanding. Iran wins Asian Games final. "We lost the game, but we saved our lives." Coach David Schweitzer said frankly.

The situation eventually intensified—at the subsequent AFC conference, Kuwait proposed expelling Israel. 17 countries were in favor, 13 countries were against, and 6 countries abstained. When the AFC celebrated its founding anniversary in 2015, it directly removed Israel from the list of Asian Cup champions in an attempt to eliminate all relevant records.

The Soviet Union pressured UEFA to isolate Israel

From 1974 to the early 1990s, the Israeli national team drifted in the world of football. In the 1978 World Cup preliminaries, they participated in the East Asia competition and lost to South Korea. Although Israel no longer belongs to the AFC at this time, it is still competing in the region. The 1982 World Cup preliminaries were classified into the UEFA Champions League, finishing at the bottom of the group with Scotland, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Portugal.

The next two World Cup qualifying teams moved to the Oceania Division, but were not official members of the federation. Games are few and far between. In the past two decades, Israeli clubs have always been "outside the system". From 1976 to 1994, they could only participate in the UEFA International Toto Cup.

Why is it so long for Israeli football to integrate into UEFA? Since 1967, the Soviet Union supported Arab states in the Arab-Israeli conflict and spread anti-Zionist propaganda. Israel is seen as an ally of Western imperialism, a stance that extends to sports. The Soviet Union continued to pressure UEFA to isolate Israel.

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the obstacles for Israeli teams at all levels to participate in European competitions have gradually been eliminated. After a transition period, Israel has officially become a member of UEFA since 1994.

As of now, the Israeli national team has not yet qualified for the European Cup. However, the club has appeared in European competitions all year round: in 1999, Maccabi Haifa reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, and in 2002, Hapoel Tel Aviv advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Palestinian supporters used Ukraine as an example to demand sanctions against Israel.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel and triggered a war, causing a large number of casualties. The Israeli government declared a state of war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War and launched "Operation Iron Sword" in Gaza. This year the United Nations stated that Israel had committed "four out of five acts of genocide" in Gaza. Israel has accused the commission of bias.

European dissatisfaction with Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing. Pro-Palestinian protests have spread to football: for example, a banner reading "Stop killing children, stop killing civilians" appeared in the UEFA Super Cup final.

There are endless calls for Israel to be given a "red card" - that is, to be disqualified from UEFA. Palestinian supporters cite the Ukrainian precedent: Russia was banned from football and sports events around the world after a full-scale invasion.

Opponents have not yet taken action to boycott the game, but the situation remains tense. The Norwegian Football Association announced that it would donate proceeds from the match to Doctors Without Borders, and persuaded UEFA to require the Israeli delegation to arrive the day before the match - citing security concerns.

According to the "Times" report, US President Trump once intervened for Israel. UEFA has postponed a vote to suspend Israel from European football, believed to be related to Trump's new peace plan for the Palestinians and Israelis.