FairSquare has written to UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin requesting that UEFA’s investigations into the violence that preceded and followed Maccabi Tel Aviv’s match against Ajax Amsterdam in Amsterdam on 7 November focus on UEFA member associations’ obligation to eradicate racism.
UEFA issued a statement on 8 November saying that it “strongly condemns the incidents and acts of violence” and that it would “examine all official reports, gather available evidence, assess them and evaluate any further appropriate course of action in accordance with its relevant regulatory framework.”
FairSquare’s letter draws attention to numerous instances of well-documented racist chanting from Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters in Amsterdam and places this in the context of supporters of other Israeli football teams’ racial discrimination against Arabs and Palestinians, and Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. It also addresses the violence to which Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were subjected, some of which appears to have been motivated by anti-semitism.
Whereas the KNVB (the Royal Dutch Football Association) have condemned the violence and the Dutch authorities have taken prompt action to investigate the violence to which the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were subjected, and its motivations, neither the IFA nor the Israeli government have expressed any condemnation of – nor committed to any action in respect of – the egregious racist behaviour of Maccabi Tel Aviv’s travelling supporters nor the violence they engaged in.
Article 7bis (7) of UEFA’s statutes requires member associations to “implement an effective policy aimed at eradicating racism and any other forms of discrimination from football and apply a regulatory framework providing that any such behaviour is strictly sanctioned”.
The letter urges UEFA to ensure this applies without discrimination to the Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (KNVB) and the Israel Football Association (IFA).
The letter calls on UEFA to immediately remind the IFA of its obligations and, if the IFA fails to impose the appropriate sanctions on the teams concerned, to invoke article 9 of its statutes, which empowers UEFA to immediately suspend any member association that has committed a “serious breach” of its statutes. Should evidence emerge to suggest that Ajax Amsterdam supporters, or supporters of any other Dutch football teams, engaged in antisemitism or any racially motivated violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters, UEFA should assess whether that can be attributed in any way to any failure on the part of the KNVB to adhere to its obligations as a UEFA member association under article 7bis (7) of UEFA’s statutes, and act accordingly.
“Efforts to eradicate racism from the game require that all stakeholders adhere to their own obligations and responsibilities. If UEFA is serious about tackling racism it must ignore the political noise that events in Amsterdam generated, concentrate on the evidence and enforce its statutes accordingly”, said FairSquare co-director Nick McGeehan.
