The Athletic backtracks on UEFA vote reports in Israel suspension story

The Athletic has amended its reporting after creating confusion around whether European soccer’s governing body UEFA was preparing to vote on suspending Israel.

In a piece published on October 1, the outlet initially suggested that UEFA’s executive committee was poised to hold an emergency meeting this week, in response to growing calls from the Palestine Football Association and human rights groups for Israel to be excluded from competition. FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani’s comments were also framed in a way that implied FIFA itself was close to intervening.

The clarification was issued after Montagliani stressed that Israel’s status “first and foremost” remains a matter for UEFA, and not for FIFA’s Council, which is not considering the issue on its current agenda. The Athletic acknowledged that UEFA never confirmed nor denied that a vote was imminent and that its own reporting had overstated the likelihood of such a move.

The broader context is that Israel’s soccer future has become increasingly politicized. Independent United Nations experts last week urged FIFA and UEFA to suspend the Israel FA, a call which Amnesty International has also backed in stark terms, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza — charges Israel strongly denies. At the same time, several European governments, including the United Kingdom and France, have recognized Palestine as an independent state, further heightening scrutiny on UEFA’s handling of Israel’s membership.

But The Athletic’s misframing — treating speculation about a UEFA vote as though it were near fact — risks exaggerating a sense of imminent expulsion that UEFA has not confirmed. By blurring the lines between pressure campaigns, diplomatic signals and actual procedure, it presented an unstable situation as though decisions were already underway, which only adds to the uncertainty surrounding sport’s role in the conflict.