Gianni Infantino Has FIFA Plans For Palestine vs Israel Game

Hal picked up his MA in Sports Journalism and NCTJ qualification from St Mary's University Twickenham, Hal has since been part of Valnet since late 2021.

He started as a freelance football writer for This Is Futbol and carried that on over to FootballFanCast before becoming their social media editor. He now works as an editor for GiveMeSport, predominantly focusing on Premier League, Champions League, and English football.

He also helps GiveMeSport cover other major sports such as MMA, boxing, darts, tennis, and golf. Key events like the summer and winter Olympics are also highlights when they appear on the sporting calendar.

Hal is an Arsenal and Three Lions fan, but keeps an eye on the All Blacks, his favourite rugby team, having grown up in New Zealand. Sign in to your GiveMeSport account For people who say football and politics should not mix, this World Cup has made it pretty hard for them to hold on to that belief. After all, a whole collection of political issues have already had a big impact on the summer tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has forged a close relationship with Donald Trump, but has not been able to get the US president to soften his overzealous border security laws. As such, Somalian referee Omar Artan was not allowed into the country.

Adding to that, Iraq's World Cup striker Aymen Hussein was held and questioned for nearly seven ​hours at Chicago's O'Hare airport, while Iran's ongoing conflict with the US has made it difficult and at times impossible for their players, staff, and fans to get visas to come into the country. And those are just a few of the many examples where political positions have disrupted the tournament.

Infantino appears to understand that football has the power to unite, but FIFA have not taken many actions to help with that of late. His latest plans to ease tensions between Israel and Palestine have sparked more criticism.

FIFA President Infantino infamously attempted and failed to orchestrate a handshake between the Palestinian and Israeli delegates at the FIFA congress in May, and his latest plans to help the conflict appear to be just as heavy-handed.

As per The Athletic, FIFA are now proposing that the opening match of their inaugural under-15s football festival should be Israel against Palestine. The new tournament is set to take place in the US in September 2026 and is open to all 211 of FIFA’s member associations.

As such, this means both Israel and Palestine could be involved, while Russia, who have been banned from FIFA competitions since their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 - are also invited.

As reported by The Athletic, sources with knowledge of the plans believe that Infantino's FIFA want the festival to get underway with a U15 match between Israel and Palestine. A spokesman from the Israeli Football Association has commented:

“Our FA President, Moshe Zuares, will stick to what he said several times publicly at FIFA congress and everywhere, we are more than ever willing to use football as an instrument to promote normalisation and peace.

“Our hands are always extended for a better future for everyone. We hope to find a brave partner on the other side."

Their supporters will NOT be able to bring their flags into the stadiums.

When news of the plans online emerged, many questioned the wisdom of FIFA using a game between children to try to unite the nations. In September 2025, a report from Save the Children revealed that at least one Palestinian child has been killed every hour on average by Israeli forces in Gaza over nearly 23 months of war, with the number of children killed now surpassing 20,000.

Reacting to the news about a possible match between the two teams, one person wrote: "Just when you thought Infantino couldn’t get any worse." Another added:

One fan sarcastically commented on behalf of FIFA: "Hey Palestinians, play against the country that is killing your family and stealing your lands. I mean, do that for our entertainment."

Others commented: "It’s hard to conceive a response to this that isn’t filled with anger. Infantino must be some combination of ignorant, stupid, evil, or all three." And: "I've rarely seen someone as divorced from reality as Infantino."

Someone else said: "You just wanna squeeze the money from them. disgusting."