THE Trump administration will attempt to stop any effort to ban Israel ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The national team is currently allowed to compete in World Cup qualifiers and could feature at the tournament next year, which takes place in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
However UN advisors have suggested Israel should be banned from competing.
Uefa are considering their next steps with reports claiming they are moving towards the idea of imposing a ban.
Some members support that decision but potential sanctions are set to be met with resistance from Donald Trump’s administration.
A state department spokesperson told Sky News: “We will absolutely work to fully stop any effort to attempt to ban Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.”
Fifa is still yet to make a decision on the matter and it has not responded to the UN special rapporteurs.
But an investigation is ongoing after Fifa launched a probe last year into allegations of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association against the Israeli FA.
UN advisors have called for Israel to be banned from world soccer.
Alexandra Xanthaki, the UN special rapporteur for cultural rights, said, “Sports cannot be business as usual and something has to change and Israel has to be excluded.
“I think that when we talk about teams, national teams, not individual athletes, of states that are subject to valid claims of genocide… this is where this is for sure a red line.”
Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who has been in New York this week, made a speech after collecting an Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award.
He referenced the war while speaking on bringing people together in “a divided world, in an aggressive world”.
He said: “I suffer when I see children suffer. I cry when I see mothers crying, whether it’s in Gaza… anywhere in the world.”
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