It’s seldom the athletes. Most athletes don’t care what your politics or race or culture is. They want compete. I know. Because I compete, and I don’t care against whom. It’s the governments that create the bullshit. Athletic competition brings teams together. Anything that interferes with our inability to face an opponent is not looked upon favorably by us. Leave your bullshit in your offices and embassies and leave us alone!
Israel should just say fuck you, Donald Trump and go ahead and do everything to destroy. I ran I believe it has the military power and the intelligence to do it so the world will condemn Israel if they do big fucking deal the world already condemned Israel.
Politics trumps sport. And art. And music. And scholarly pursuits. But yet not Israeli technology or medical inventions. Gotta love the intellectual and ideological purity.
Wow, I thank you for schooling me on this troubling, but not surprising history. Excellent article. The Arabs are still smarting at their five army loss to Israel almost 80 years later.
The through-line lands this week. Fifty-two years after the AFC expelled Israel for the crime of existing in Asia, an Israeli fan at the 2026 World Cup is told to lower his flag while the Palestinian flag "doesn't bother anyone." Same boycott, new venue — and still no formal declaration. You've documented the machinery. the stadium just showed it still runs.
Its always been about dirty politics, where Jews/Israelis are concerned.
On September 5, 1972, my late husband and I were sitting in our "salon" in North Tel Aviv glued to our small black and white television watching the horror unfolding of the massacre/hostage taking of our Israeli athletes in Munich at the Munich Olympics by palestinian terrorists aka BLACK SEPTEMBER.
Avery Brundage was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee in 1972, and it would be his last Olympics as president, he was the only American and first non-European to attain that position. Brundage is also remembered for his involvement with the 1936 Summer Olympics, which was held in Berlin.
In 1936, Brundage (My guess is he was a member in the German American Bund) was the leader of America's Olympic organizations, he fought against a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics, which had been awarded to Germany before the rise of the Nazi regime and its escalating persecution of Jews. Brundage successfully prevented a US boycott of the Games, and he was elected to the IOC that year. He quickly became a major figure in the Olympic movement and was elected IOC president in 1952.
Thirty six years after the Berlin Olympics - Brundage proved himself yet again, when after the murders of our Israeli athletes he refused to cancel the remainder of the Olympics, declaring "the Games must go on."
Whatever Brundage’s reasons for not canceling the ‘72 games was, and I remember well that horrific crime and Jim McKays reporting of it, the Games continued as they should have. You don’t quit and thus further enable scum like black september ( non-capitalized intentionally) and its disgusting sponsors.
Israel moving from the Asian Football Confederation to the Union of European Football Associations demands from Israel to improve its football association and the level of our players do that they can compete better with these global giants.
Anyway, there are still many sectors in which Europeans still lag behind Israel.
Sorry, but this is just a wrong conclusion from an otherwise well-written analysis. Israel is more similar to Europe than to Asia in terms of culture, economics, political system, etc. If placing Israel football into the European bucket is a discrimination, are other European countries discriminated against as well? Sometimes even Italy or Germany fail to make it to the World Cup. There are many examples of anti-Israel bias in the world; this ain't one!
They werent placed there due to shared or more common systems and culture. They were put there because AFC banned them due to constant issues form the Arab nations, and FIFA moved them to the next closest federation. They actually considered putting them in Africa, but at the time they would have faced huge problems from the Arab nations there. So, UEFA it is. Honestly, with the expanded number of qualifying spots, I wouldnt be surprised if the get in over the next 2 or 3 cups.
On one hand if Israel played in Asia it might qualify for the World Cup, Uzbekistan and Qatar are pretty weak teams and they qualified. The Asian conference is weaker certainly. Otoh Israel has 10 million people, it’s a good deal larger than Norway, Scotland, Bosnia, or Croatia, all of which qualified from uefa. It’s not producing good players for whatever reason currently.
Interesting history. Here we are 56 years later and some nations and athletes still refuse to compete against Israel or Israelis.
It’s seldom the athletes. Most athletes don’t care what your politics or race or culture is. They want compete. I know. Because I compete, and I don’t care against whom. It’s the governments that create the bullshit. Athletic competition brings teams together. Anything that interferes with our inability to face an opponent is not looked upon favorably by us. Leave your bullshit in your offices and embassies and leave us alone!
Agree
Israel should just say fuck you, Donald Trump and go ahead and do everything to destroy. I ran I believe it has the military power and the intelligence to do it so the world will condemn Israel if they do big fucking deal the world already condemned Israel.
I agree.
Politics trumps sport. And art. And music. And scholarly pursuits. But yet not Israeli technology or medical inventions. Gotta love the intellectual and ideological purity.
Wow, I thank you for schooling me on this troubling, but not surprising history. Excellent article. The Arabs are still smarting at their five army loss to Israel almost 80 years later.
The through-line lands this week. Fifty-two years after the AFC expelled Israel for the crime of existing in Asia, an Israeli fan at the 2026 World Cup is told to lower his flag while the Palestinian flag "doesn't bother anyone." Same boycott, new venue — and still no formal declaration. You've documented the machinery. the stadium just showed it still runs.
Its always been about dirty politics, where Jews/Israelis are concerned.
On September 5, 1972, my late husband and I were sitting in our "salon" in North Tel Aviv glued to our small black and white television watching the horror unfolding of the massacre/hostage taking of our Israeli athletes in Munich at the Munich Olympics by palestinian terrorists aka BLACK SEPTEMBER.
Avery Brundage was the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee in 1972, and it would be his last Olympics as president, he was the only American and first non-European to attain that position. Brundage is also remembered for his involvement with the 1936 Summer Olympics, which was held in Berlin.
In 1936, Brundage (My guess is he was a member in the German American Bund) was the leader of America's Olympic organizations, he fought against a boycott of the 1936 Summer Olympics, which had been awarded to Germany before the rise of the Nazi regime and its escalating persecution of Jews. Brundage successfully prevented a US boycott of the Games, and he was elected to the IOC that year. He quickly became a major figure in the Olympic movement and was elected IOC president in 1952.
Thirty six years after the Berlin Olympics - Brundage proved himself yet again, when after the murders of our Israeli athletes he refused to cancel the remainder of the Olympics, declaring "the Games must go on."
Whatever Brundage’s reasons for not canceling the ‘72 games was, and I remember well that horrific crime and Jim McKays reporting of it, the Games continued as they should have. You don’t quit and thus further enable scum like black september ( non-capitalized intentionally) and its disgusting sponsors.
Israel moving from the Asian Football Confederation to the Union of European Football Associations demands from Israel to improve its football association and the level of our players do that they can compete better with these global giants.
Anyway, there are still many sectors in which Europeans still lag behind Israel.
Sorry, but this is just a wrong conclusion from an otherwise well-written analysis. Israel is more similar to Europe than to Asia in terms of culture, economics, political system, etc. If placing Israel football into the European bucket is a discrimination, are other European countries discriminated against as well? Sometimes even Italy or Germany fail to make it to the World Cup. There are many examples of anti-Israel bias in the world; this ain't one!
They werent placed there due to shared or more common systems and culture. They were put there because AFC banned them due to constant issues form the Arab nations, and FIFA moved them to the next closest federation. They actually considered putting them in Africa, but at the time they would have faced huge problems from the Arab nations there. So, UEFA it is. Honestly, with the expanded number of qualifying spots, I wouldnt be surprised if the get in over the next 2 or 3 cups.
On one hand if Israel played in Asia it might qualify for the World Cup, Uzbekistan and Qatar are pretty weak teams and they qualified. The Asian conference is weaker certainly. Otoh Israel has 10 million people, it’s a good deal larger than Norway, Scotland, Bosnia, or Croatia, all of which qualified from uefa. It’s not producing good players for whatever reason currently.
Embarrassing that soccer is a topic.