The Football Association of Ireland has called for Israel’s immediate suspension over the Israeli FA’s violation of UEFA’s statutes in occupied Palestinian territory.
Published On 8 Nov 20258 Nov 2025
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Members of Irish football’s governing body have approved a resolution instructing its board to submit a formal motion to UEFA requesting the immediate suspension of Israel from European competitions, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) said.
The resolution passed by the FAI members on Saturday cites violations by Israel’s Football Association of two provisions of UEFA statutes: its failure to implement and enforce an effective antiracism policy and the playing by Israeli clubs in occupied Palestinian territory without the consent of the Palestinian Football Association.
The resolution was backed by 74 votes, with seven opposed and two abstentions, the FAI said in a statement.
UEFA considered holding a vote early last month on whether to suspend Israel from European competitions over its genocide in Gaza, but the voting did not take place after a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 10.
The Irish resolution follows calls in September from the heads of the Turkish and Norwegian football governing bodies for Israel to be suspended from international competition.
Those requests came after United Nations experts appealed to FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israel from international football, citing a UN Commission of Inquiry report that said Israel had committed genocide during the war in Gaza.
‘Israel is allowed to operate with total impunity’
In October, more than 30 legal experts called on UEFA to bar Israel and its clubs.
The letter highlighted the damage that Israel is inflicting on the sport in Gaza. At least 421 Palestinian footballers have been killed since Israel began its military offensive in October 2023, and the letter explained that Israel’s bombing campaign is “systematically destroying Gaza’s football infrastructure”.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino brushed aside the calls by indirectly addressing it as a “geopolitical issue” at the FIFA Council on October 2.
“We are committed to using the power of football to bring people together in a divided world,” Infantino said.
The apparently preferential treatment given to Israel’s football team was an extension of the “total impunity” the country has enjoyed amid the two-year war, according to Abdullah Al-Arian, associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Qatar.
“Sporting bodies often mirror the broader power politics that are at play [in the world] and so they’re only doing what we’ve seen happen across all walks of political life, in which Israel has not been held to account,” Al-Arian told Al Jazeera.
“It [Israel] has been allowed to operate with total impunity throughout this genocide and has enjoyed this impunity for many decades.”
In 2024, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) presented arguments accusing the Israel Football Association (IFA) of violating FIFA statutes with its war on Gaza and the inclusion of clubs located in illegal settlements on Palestinian territory in its domestic football league.
The PFA wanted FIFA to adopt “appropriate sanctions” against Israel’s national side and club teams, including an international ban.
It called on FIFA to ban Israel, but the world body postponed its decision by delegating the matter to its disciplinary committee for review. Al-Arian termed that “a move to keep the bureaucratic machinery moving without making any real progress”.
“Ultimately, it’s a political decision being made at the highest levels of the organisation,” he said.
Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has named his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with Evan Ferguson included despite struggling with an ankle problem.
The forward – on loan at Roma from Brighton, who scored in the 1-0 win against Armenia in October, picked up the injury against Parma on 29 October. However, he is included in the 25-man squad for the final two group games that begin at home to Portugal on Thursday, 13 November (19:45 GMT) before a trip to Hungary on Sunday, 16 November (14:00 GMT).
Hallgrimsson’s side go into the final round of matches in Group F sitting in third, one point behind Hungary who travel to Armenia in the first of their games, knowing qualification for the 2026 World Cup could be out of their grasp with a game to spare should they lose to runaway leaders Portugal.
Missing for that game will be Jayson Molumby and Ryan Manning through suspension, but both are included in the squad.
There is a return for Mark Sykes despite his club Bristol City revealing he would miss their next two games after sustaining a gash on his leg in Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat by Blackburn Rovers.
With Callum O’Dowda out, Jimmy Dunne retains his place in the squad after coming in as a late replacement for the October internationals, while American-born 26-year-old Kevin O’Toole receives a call-up with the left-sided New York City player eligible through his grandfather.
However, there is no call for Celtic’s Johnny Kenny – despite scoring three goals in his last two games, including the opener in the League Cup semi-final win over Rangers at the weekend – even though Hallgrimsson is without the injured Sammie Szmodics.
Northern Ireland captain and Birmingham City striker Simone Magill has announced she is pregnant.
The 31-year-old shared the news with her Birmingham team-mates on Wednesday and announced it on social media along with her husband, Mark.
“Something tells me next year is going to be the best one yet,” Magill posted on Instagram.
Magill will not feature for Birmingham for the rest of the season or for Northern Ireland in the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in March.
WSL2 club Birmingham City say Magill will continue “light training” with the team and that the club’s medical and performance staff will support her “throughout her pregnancy and beyond”.
Amy Merricks, Magill’s head coach at Birmingham, said she would “make an amazing parent”.
“We’re looking forward to supporting her on this journey through her pregnancy and as her baby comes into the world, we’re excited to have a Bluenose baby,” Merricks said.
“We want to keep Si in and around the environment as much as possible.
“She wants to remain sharp and play a critical part in this season and we’re looking forward to supporting her with her journey.”
Magill missed Northern Ireland’s Nations League play-off defeat by Iceland at the end of October and last played for Birmingham in September because of a hip issue.
She won the first of her 95 NI caps as a teenager in 2010 and was named captain by Tanya Oxtoby in October 2024.
Magill played a key role in Northern Ireland’s qualification for Euro 2022 – her country’s first major tournament – but sustained a knee injury in the first match against Norway.
Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher says players must fulfil their individual responsibilities better if the squad is to bounce back in their three home autumn internationals after losing to New Zealand in Chicago.
The All Blacks secured a 26-13 comeback win over Andy Farrell’s side at Soldier Field, with the Irish now set to face Japan on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, then Australia and South Africa at the same venue.
Tadhg Beirne had his initial yellow card after three minutes of the contest with New Zealand upgraded to a 20-minute red and although Ireland led 13-7 early in the second half, a flurry of three tries in the space of 15 minutes in the final quarter of the game saw their opponents avenge their loss at the same venue nine years previously.
Beirne’s sanction was subsequently rescinded on appeal.
“Obviously it wasn’t what we wanted. We went there with a plan, but we obviously didn’t execute it,” said Kelleher.
“It was more us not doing our jobs to the best of our ability really and on the day, we weren’t good enough.
“I think it just came down to our execution on the day. We just got it wrong at times.”
Kelleher, who was called up to the British and Irish Lions squad in July, added that it was “particularly disappointing” to concede those three late tries after he had come on as a replacement for fellow Leinster player Dan Sheehan just after the hour mark.
“I came off the bench but it was difficult out there, we just didn’t get our dead stops. We didn’t manage to do what we said we were going to do, which was get two-man shots, slow up their breakdown with dominant collisions and we didn’t manage to do that.
“Then when they managed to get a bit of momentum on us, they managed to keep the foot on the throat and we couldn’t wrestle that momentum back.
“I think ultimately we have to take the learnings from the game and make sure we improve from here on in. We weren’t good enough for large parts, so I think it’s just back to the drawing board really.
“It’s up to each player individually to make sure that they’re doing the bit of extras, whatever needs to be done.”
Iceland and Ukraine have also been placed in Group A3 alongside Sarina Wiegman’s side.
Qualifying for the World Cup, which will be held in Brazil, follows the same format as the Nations League and is split into three tiers.
Only the four group winners in League A will automatically qualify for the finals, with the remaining teams having to go through the play-offs for the remaining eight places.
Scotland have been paired with Belgium, Israel and Luxembourg in Group B4, while Wales will face the Czech Republic, Albania and Montenegro in Group B1.
Northern Ireland have been placed in Group B2 with Switzerland, Turkey and Malta, and the Republic of Ireland are in Group A2 alongside the Netherlands, France and Poland.
The qualifiers will be played across six matchdays, on a home and away basis, during 2026, starting on 3 March and finishing on 9 June.
Uefa has been allocated 11 places for the 32-team 2027 World Cup.
An additional European team could also qualify through Fifa’s intercontinental play-offs.
Earlier this year, a trailer for a film called Dear Erin appeared in cinemas featuring bloody-knuckled, flat-capped “Paddy” penning a letter on a table strewn with empty porter and whiskey glasses to Erin, his long-lost American flame. Much online brouhaha and frustration ensued at yet another Hollywood misrepresentation of modern day Ireland. The trailer was eventually revealed to be an elaborate ruse by Epic, the Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, to call out the tired stereotypes and “to find out who the Irish really are”.
Ireland, and the Irish, are many things. The country’s economic and social structures have changed rapidly in recent decades but that doesn’t necessarily mean the culture has altered unrecognisably. What has changed is the increasing draw to connect with Ireland’s natural landscapes. Writers such as the late Tim Robinson, Manchán Magan and the popular podcaster Blindboyboatclub have been pivotal in mining the connection between the natural world and the country’s past. The Irish language has seen a renaissance in the past few years for the same reason. In his 2020 bestselling book Thirty-Two Words for Field, Magan writes: “Irish has a rich store of words that offers a more soulful and nature-connected way of seeing the world. It lets you live more deeply in your environment.”
To test Magan’s hypothesis, I travelled with my family to the Fanad peninsula in the Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) area of County Donegal this summer. The bilingual road sign that welcomed us to Fanad/Fánaid immediately delivered a geographical context, fána being the Irish word for sloping ground. Knockalla mountain (Cnoc Colbha – the hill of the edge) loomed to the east, calling to mind images of the ice sheets that carved the ridge along the twin peaks about 14,000 years ago.
Fergal and family enjoy having the beach to themselves. Photograph: Fergal McCarthy
The ice age also had an impact on Fanad’s coast. The rocks that still line the foreshores of its pristine beaches were left behind by retreating glaciers and pounded ever since by the North Atlantic to make sand. We sought out one of those white beaches at Ballyhiernan Bay (Bá Bhaile UíThiarnáin – the townland of Tiarnán). My phone offered no details of shadowy Tiarnán’s biography, but I wanted to find out more about why a whole bay was named after him – Robinson was right: “place names tell stories”. We were alone on the beach, our only company the swallows that surfed the air currents above the crashing waves. My 16-year-old son and I had spent the past year attending “pop-up Gaeltachts” in Dublin pubs in preparation for his stint working at an Irish college, a rite of passage for Irish teenagers, yet the Irish word for swallow eluded him. It is fáinleog, probably from fán meaning to wander or to leave, perfectly capturing the penchant of these summer visitors for travelling to Africa in the winter.
The process of anglicising Irish place names began in the early 19th century, following the 1800 Act of Union, with towns being renamed as part of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, which began in 1824. This act of cultural erasure was soon followed by the great famine, from 1845 to 1852, which decimated the Irish-speaking population. In 1980, decades before the recent resurgence of interest in Ireland’s linguistic past, the Donegal playwright Brian Friel mined this pivotal era for his 1833-set opus Translations. The play’s erudite schoolmaster Hugh, who refers to Irish as “a syntax opulent with tomorrows”, might have smiled warmly at the idea of musicians such as CMAT, Fontaines DC and Kneecap releasing songs in the language nearly two centuries later.
Settling in for our stay at a cottage within the grounds of Fanad lighthouse, the view from our sitting room looked west to the towering cliffs of Tory Island (Toraigh – place of steep rocky heights), another far-flung corner where the native language maintains a grip, and famous for having a king until 2018. Ascending the vertiginous steps to the lantern room afforded us an even better view, with Malin Head (Cionn Mhálanna – high headland), Ireland’s most northerly tip, clearly visible across Lough Swilly (Loch Súilí – lake of eyes or shadows). The enormous expanse of sea to the north created a sense of the earth’s curvature, and Scotland and Iceland seemed almost within reach, somewhere in the distance.
The next morning, while kayaking under the nearby cliffs and blowholes with knowledgable local guide Hugh Hunter, oystercatchers dived overhead, calling out angrily as we paddled by their nesting grounds. These black and white seabirds with orange, chisel-like beaks migrate here from the neighbouring Nordic countries every autumn. My son is none the wiser about the Irish for oystercatcher: Roilleach an Giolla Brighde, meaningthe servant of Saint Brigid. The story goes that Ireland’s patroness saint was hidden from an angry mob by a flock of oystercatchers who covered her in seaweed.
Kayaking with knowledgable guide Hugh Hunter. Photograph: Fergal McCarthy
That afternoon, we joined the throng in the Lighthouse Tavern to watch the All-Ireland football final between Donegal and Kerry. There was a loud cheer in a mixture of Irish and English each time the home team scored. At half-time we joined a group of local teenagers as they discussed their impending university courses in Dublin. I wondered how their lives would change and who among them might come back, like the swallows and oystercatchers, to this far-flung peninsula.
Later in the week, stopping for directions to Port Na Ling (harbour of the ships) beach, a local man engaged us in conversation, explaining he hadn’t spoken a word of English until he went to secondary school. He pointed out the house where he grew up with 11 siblings, among a constellation of white-washed bungalows on the hillside the other side of Mulroy Bay (An Mhaoil Rua – meaning the bare hill). Ireland’s pre-famine, largely rural population, peaked at about 8.2 million and a sense of how the country’s built environment looked back then is somehow still tangible in many coastal Donegal communities. Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair – estuary of water), an hour away to the west, is described as one of Europe’s most densely populated rural areas. In the aftermath of the famine, people in Donegal largely survived by travelling to Scotland as potato pickers, and this seasonal work allowed the county’s population to remain relatively buoyant, with locals returning home in the winter months rather than emigrating permanently.
View over the coastline of Gweedore, described as one of Europe’s most densely populated rural areas. Photograph: Gareth McCormack/Alamy
We finished our time in Fanad by following the Way of the Cross up Knockalla to an outdoor altar with three crosses looking out across the peninsula. Blindboyboatclub explains that “the Irish landscape itself acts as a storyteller, whispers tales of the past”. The pathway we had just ascended has been a place of spiritual significance for millennia, long before being co-opted by Christianity. The many standing stones and ancient sites strewn across the fields are signifiers of a secret history. We were the only people to climb the mountain that morning, and what a privilege to have this sacred site to ourselves.
Our time in Fanad had been a portal to viewing the landscape afresh. Magan was right: the Irish language is an extraordinary conduit to the past and offers us a better understanding of the present.
Ireland’s 40-29 win in Chicago nine years ago was one of the apogees in the team’s history, while the intensity and stakes of the World Cup quarter-final extracted herculean efforts from both sides in what is widely considered the rivalry’s apex.
But Saturday’s entry did not resemble either of those games.
Neither team reached anywhere near their maximum, and with a raft of protracted stoppages for tackle reviews and injuries, it failed to deliver an interest-generating spectacle in a country which is hosting the World Cup in six years.
Ultimately, New Zealand will not care. For them, a long-awaited fifth Grand Slam of the northern hemisphere remains in play after a second-half surge that yielded three tries in 15 minutes.
Ireland, however, have much to stew on.
Last year, they opened their autumn campaign with a loss to the All Blacks. Their performance in Dublin that night was one of the flattest of the Farrell era and they were not much better here.
There were, at least, some positives. They responded strongly to Tadhg Beirne’s highly controversial early red card to lead 10-0 thanks to a Jack Crowley penalty and Tadhg Furlong’s first try since 2021.
Elsewhere, Stuart McCloskey, a surprise inclusion at inside centre, shone in his first appearance against the All Blacks before being forced off injured, while Ryan Baird staked his claim to be a regular fixture in the back row.
But while they led for 57 minutes, Ireland never seemed fully in control. Having lost a tenacious operator in Beirne, they were bested at the breakdown and missed crucial tackles, while a creaky lineout blunted their ability to create opportunities and ramp up scoreboard pressure.
