JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
(JTA) — A British soccer team that had previously defended its fans’ self-designation as “yids” has for the first time asked they stop. Tottenham Hotspur, a prominent London team with a sizable Jewish fanbase and a reputation of being Jewish among fans of rival teams, made the request in a statement on its website Thursday….
(JTA) — Iran reportedly has removed two players from its national soccer team after they competed against an Israeli team. Haji Safi and Masoud Shojaei play for the Greek soccer club Panionios, which last week competed against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv team in the Europa League’s third qualifying round second leg held in Greece. The…
The worlds of politics and football (soccer) clashed again. This time, the location was the Bahraini capital, Manama. The two sides of the conflict were the Palestinian Football Federation and the Israeli Football Federation. At stake in the conflict was a resolution submitted by the Palestinian federation demanding that six Israeli clubs based in exclusive…
A human rights group urged soccer’s governing body, FIFA, on Monday to move matches being played by Israeli teams in the occupied West Bank to Israel, saying that playing in Jewish settlements meant they were playing on stolen land. The six clubs named by Human Rights Watch are all minor. But the dispute over their…
Israeli police are warning Scottish soccer fans against waving Palestinian flags during tonight’s match between Celtic and the Israeli team Hapoel Be’er Sheva. The warning comes amid repeated incidences of the Glasgow team’s fans demonstrating pro-Palestinan support, including the waving of more than 100 Palestinan flags during a soccer match against the Israeli team last…
Rotem Kamer, chief executive of the Israel Football Association, told Israel’s Walla news website on Thursday that Israeli representatives were lobbying several soccer confederations, including UEFA, in Zurich hotels before an expected ballot on the issue at FIFA Congress on Friday. “Undoubtedly there is a lot of politics going on here, and unfortunately Israel’s position…
The head of world soccer’s governing body said on Wednesday Israel had proposed easing travel restrictions for Palestinian players but the head of the Palestine FA insisted he would pursue a move to have Israel suspended from FIFA. After meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and soccer officials in the West Bank, FIFA President Sepp Blatter…
(JTA) — The world soccer federation’s boss, Sepp Blatter, is preparing to travel to Jerusalem and Ramallah in a bid to resolve a dispute over a Palestinian effort to have Israel banned from the association. Blatter, president of the Switzerland-based FIFA, told reporters on Friday that he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
