Italian Soccer Coaches Demand FIFA, UEFA Suspend Israel From All International Competitions

The Association of Italian Coaches, also known as the Assoallenatori (AIAC), sent a letter to Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Gabriele Gravina on Monday asking for Israel’s temporary suspension from international competitions, and for the same request to be forwarded to the UEFA and FIFA.

The AIAC described the move “on behalf of the Palestinian people” as “not only symbolic, but a necessary choice, responding to a moral imperative, shared by the entire AIAC leadership team.” The association is led by Renzo Ulivieri.

“After an initial meeting within the presidency council, convened by Ulivieri, the national board of directors of the Assoallenatori unanimously resolved to send a letter-appeal to the president of the FIGC and to all federation members, urging Italian soccer to mobilize, in its own area, on behalf of the Palestinian people, putting forward a request, to be forwarded to UEFA and FIFA, for a temporary suspension of Israel from international competitions,” the AIAC announced.

Ulivieri said “the values of humanity” compel the AIAC to take action against “acts of oppression with terrible consequences.”

“Too many innocent deaths. Among them, many athletes. This is yet another reason to seek international countermeasures, including in our sector,” added Vice President Giuseppe Vossi.

“The world is in flames. Many people, like the Palestinians, are suffering. Indifference is unacceptable,” added Vice President Roberto Perondi.

Italy’s national football team is slated to compete against Israel in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Sept. 8 and Oct. 14.

In its letter to Gravina, the AIAC drew attention to the Hamas-orchestrated terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – while calling Hamas terrorists “a non-secondary part of the problem” – but also accused Israel of genocide and “daily massacres” in the Gaza Strip. The letter additionally mentioned Palestinian football player Suleiman al-Obeid, who was allegedly killed by Israeli military forces, although Israel has never confirmed his death.

“Can the terrorist massacre carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, with over a thousand innocent Israeli victims plus the taking of 250 hostages, justify the fierce genocidal retaliation of Israel, which killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians?” the AIAC wrote. “The enormity of the events that are taking place in those stricken territories requires an awareness on the part of everyone and also, in our opinion, a concrete action, commensurate with the drama taking place … It is legitimate, necessary, indeed, [a] duty, to put at the center of the debate the request, to be proposed to UEFA and FIFA, the temporary exclusion of Israel from sports competitions. Because the pain of the past cannot obscure any consciousness and humanity.”

The letter did not mention Hamas’s widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.

Nonetheless, the AIAC further criticized the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming Israel has been “blatantly deaf to the appeals that are addressed to him from many sides, including participating street demonstrations and important voices of his own people” to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war. The Italian coaches’ association also invoked the Holocaust while condemning Israel’s actions during the current war in the Middle East.

“In the face of the Holocaust … No one wants to remove the bookmark of memory. But history did not stop at that horror [the Holocaust] and questions us today, with no exceptions for any nation,” the letter stated. “Let’s not forget that the biblical ‘an eye for an eye’ remains a formula entrusted by God to Moses so that the reaction to an evil suffered is not disproportionate. This applies to every individual, and even more so to a democratic state.”