Swiss MPs move to strip UEFA of tax-exempt status over failure to ban Israeli teams

Legislators in Switzerland’s Canton of Vaud are moving to vote for a resolution to strip the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) of its current tax-exempt status over the football body's failure to suspend the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

The Grand Council of Vaud will vote on a resolution aimed at revoking UEFA’s longstanding tax exemption on Tuesday after the European football authority failed to suspend the IFA, the Middle East Eye reported on Monday, citing a councilor who led the initiative.

UEFA is headquartered in Nyon, where international sports federations receive tax privileges on the condition that they promote peace and fight discrimination.

Swiss councilors working with the “Game Over Israel” campaign argue that UEFA’s continued recognition of Israeli clubs based in the occupied Palestinian territories directly violates those conditions.

“The only reason UEFA has this tax exemption is because international sports federations are expected to promote peace. Right now, by maintaining the Israeli Football Association as a member, they are not meeting that condition,” said Theophile Schenker, one of the initiative’s sponsors.

The “Game Over Israel” campaign is an international initiative launched in September last year by a coalition of pro-Palestine groups, activists, and human rights experts aimed at suspending the occupying entity from international football competitions.

The resolution is grounded in the International Court of Justice’s July 19, 2024, advisory opinion, which ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East al-Qud,s and the besieged Gaza Strip is inherently unlawful.

Since the Israeli offensive in October 2023, "more than 800 athletes, including nearly 420 football players, have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces. Almost half of these victims were children. The Palestinian sports community has been devastated by bombings, famine, and the collapse of sports infrastructure. Nearly 90% of Gaza's sports infrastructure is estimated to have been destroyed," it said.

According to the Palestinian Football Association (PFA), 268 sports facilities (stadiums, gyms, and football clubs) have been destroyed in Gaza, and 20 in the West Bank, while the PFA headquarters itself was bombed, added an English translation of the original French resolution.

Campaigners slam UEFA for blatant double standards for sanctioning Russia after its military offensive in Ukraine while refusing to act against Israel, with Schenker pointing to Israel’s suspension of access to Gaza for more than 30 international NGOs and its December approval of 19 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank as clear breaches of international law.

“By this resolution, the Grand Council invites the Council of State to give UEFA a deadline to justify the compatibility of the continued membership of the IFA and the absence of sanctions taken by UEFA against the IFA with the objectives of promoting peace and fighting against racism and discrimination, which allow its tax exemption,” the resolution concluded.

Rather than immediately stripping UEFA of its tax privileges, the resolution instructs the Vaud government to open formal proceedings, demanding that UEFA explain how its stance aligns with its peace-promotion obligations and, depending on the response, reassess the exemption.

Dozens of athletes call on UEFA to suspend Israel over 'crimes against humanity'

Dozens of athletes join letter saying that venues should not welcome ‘a regime that commits genocide’.

Although the move is symbolic, an unfavorable ruling could be challenged in court by UEFA.

“We know a resolution is symbolic. But it sends a clear message. When parliament votes on something like this, the government usually follows up. And UEFA will notice it too,” Schenker stressed.

Support for the resolution spans four parties, from the left to the liberal Greens, but success depends on winning over right-leaning councilors.

Schenker says he has secured about 65 votes and needs roughly 75 in the 150-seat chamber.

“We hope to win. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible,” he said, adding that even a parliamentary vote would intensify internal pressure on UEFA and could provide “the missing energy” for member associations to push for Israel’s suspension in line with the ICJ ruling.

According to Middle East Eye, UEFA’s executive committee was due to vote on suspending Israel on September 30 over its genocide in Gaza, but the vote was paused when US President Donald Trump proposed a ceasefire plan a day earlier.

Ashish Prashar of “Game Over Israel” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin “can call a vote with a two-hour notice,” arguing that inaction is political.

“Ceferin's choice not to suspend the IFA is politics. You can't separate politics from football,” Prashar added.

“And now that Trump has revealed what most of us know, that he never cared about peace, Ceferin's choice to ignore international law, 'give peace a chance' and halt the vote to suspend the IFA in September was either complicit or naive,” he further said.

“Israel’s human rights abuses have been thoroughly documented and UEFA must remove them from the European confederation or accept the consequences of protecting impunity,” Prashar stressed.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir