The Palestinian Football Association has for the past decade lobbied Fifa to take action against the Israeli FA for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements in its leagues. AFP
The Palestinian Football Association has for the past decade lobbied Fifa to take action against the Israeli FA for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements in its leagues. AFP
The Palestinian Football Association has for the past decade lobbied Fifa to take action against the Israeli FA for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements in its leagues. AFP
The Palestinian Football Association has for the past decade lobbied Fifa to take action against the Israeli FA for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements in its leagues. AFP

Sport

Football

Fifa stops short of suspending Israel FA but orders investigation into possible discrimination

Fifa also orders separate investigation into participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine

The National

October 04, 2024

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Fifa has asked for a disciplinary investigation into possible discrimination by the Israel Football Association after rejecting Palestinian calls to suspend the organisation.

A Fifa panel overseeing governance will separately investigate the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine, the world governing body's ruling council said.

The Palestinian Football Association has for the past decade lobbied Fifa to take action against the Israeli FA for incorporating teams from West Bank settlements in its leagues.

The compromise decisions came more than four months after Palestinian officials had urged Fifa to suspend Israel's membership at a meeting in May.

The request to Fifa's congress in May also cited “international law violations" in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas conflict and directed the governing body to its statutory commitments on human rights and against discrimination.

Fifa delayed making a decision in May until after a legal review scheduled for July, then pushed back the issue two more times until a meeting of its 37-member Council on Thursday.

“The Fifa Council has implemented due diligence on this very sensitive matter and, based on a thorough assessment, we have followed the advice of the independent experts,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

The latest process follows a pattern of Palestinian requests for Fifa to uphold its legal rules and the question then being steered toward ad hoc panels and other committees.

Fifa gave no timetable Thursday for the investigations it has now requested.

Supporters of the Palestinian campaign have criticised Fifa for not following its decision in 2022 to suspend Russian national teams from its competitions within days of the military invasion of Ukraine. European football body Uefa also removed Russian teams.

In the case of Israel, which has been a member of Uefa for 30 years, no European federation has refused to play its national or clubs teams. Israeli teams have played home games in neutral countries such as Hungary and Cyprus for security reasons since the Hamas attacks one year ago.

The Palestinian men's national team is currently playing in the Asian qualifying programme for the 2026 World Cup, hosting Jordan three weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The team next plays at Iraq on October 10 and hosts Kuwait five days later in Doha, Qatar.

Whiile you're here
If you go

Flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.

The stay

Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.

Dubai World Cup factbox

Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)

Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)

Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)

Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)

Wenger's Arsenal reign in numbers

1,228 - games at the helm, ahead of Sunday's Premier League fixture against West Ham United.
704 - wins to date as Arsenal manager.
3 - Premier League title wins, the last during an unbeaten Invincibles campaign of 2003/04.
1,549 - goals scored in Premier League matches by Wenger's teams.
10 - major trophies won.
473 - Premier League victories.
7 - FA Cup triumphs, with three of those having come the last four seasons.
151 - Premier League losses.
21 - full seasons in charge.
49 - games unbeaten in the Premier League from May 2003 to October 2004.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

LILO & STITCH

Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rating: 4.5/5

Updated: October 04, 2024, 9:12 AM
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