FIFA's committee on the Israeli-Palestinian issue has recommended that the federation give the Israel FA six months to "stop games in the settlements before deciding whether to suspend Israel or any of its teams," according to Barak Ravid of HAARETZ. The panel recommended that FIFA take the decision during its annual congress in Bahrain on May 10-11. According to a draft report, the panel recommended that "should Israel fail to comply, FIFA would then decide whether to suspend the country or the teams that play in the settlements from the federation." The Palestinians have been trying since '15 to "pressure FIFA into taking action against Israel over teams that play in the settlements." The six teams in question are located in Ma’aleh Adumim, Ariel, Kiryat Arba, Givat Ze’ev, Oranit and the Jordan Valley. All play in low-level leagues. In late March, a meeting took place in Zurich between Tokyo Sexwale, head of the FIFA committee, and the heads of the Israeli and Palestinian FAs, Ofer Eini and Jibril Rajoub. Sexwale "presented his committee’s draft report on the issue." He was "expected to submit his final report to FIFA, Israel and the Palestinians on Monday." Meanwhile, Israel is "trying to thwart a possible vote on the report and its recommendations during the FIFA Congress" (HAARETZ, 4/23).
NOT GUILTY: REUTERS reported former FA of Thailand President Worawi Makudi will seek to have his five-year FIFA ban overturned "after he was declared not guilty of forgery and falsification by an appeals court." He received the ban from FIFA's ethics committee in October after the Southern Bangkok Criminal Court "handed him a suspended 16-month prison sentence" in '15 for altering documents ahead of the '13 FAT presidential election. With his conviction "quashed" by the appeals court on Friday, his lawyer, Narinpong Jinapak, said that his client would "seek to have his global football ban overturned" (REUTERS, 4/23).
APPEALING BAN: The AFP reported South Korean billionaire Chung Mong-Joon appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over his five-year ban by FIFA. In '15, the ethics committee "hit Chung with a six-year ban," before the appeals committee reduced it to five years last July and cut his fine from 100,000 to 50,000 Swiss francs, citing "insufficient evidence." Chung claimed FIFA admitted to failing to find proof for his alleged "vote-trading" and "giving the appearance of offering benefit," and should have dropped the case against him (AFP, 4/24).
