Swiss councillors to vote on Uefa tax exemption over failure to suspend Israel
Councillors in Switzerland’s Canton of Vaud are set to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to revoke Uefa's longstanding tax-exempt status, as it failed to suspend the Israeli Football Association (IFA), a councillor who led the initiative told Middle East Eye.
European football's governing body is headquartered in Vaud's Nyon, where international sports federations enjoy tax exemptions when they can demonstrate that their activities promote peace, as well as combat racism and discrimination.
But according to the Game Over Israel campaign and the Swiss councillors who collaborated on this initiative, Uefa’s continued recognition of Israeli clubs based in unlawfully occupied Palestine directly contradicts this mandate.
“The only reason Uefa has this tax exemption is because international sports federations are expected to promote peace,” Theophile Schenker, one of the four councillors behind the initiative, told MEE.
“Right now, by maintaining the Israeli Football Association as a member, they are not meeting that condition.”
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
The resolution cites the 19 July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, which ruled that Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip was inherently unlawful.
Campaigners argue that by sanctioning Russia after its invasion of Ukraine but taking no comparable action against Israel, Uefa is applying a double standard and enabling violations of international law.
'The only reason Uefa has this tax exemption is because international sports federations are expected to promote peace'
- Theophile Schenker, Vaud councillor
Schenker denounced Israel's recent decision to suspend access to Gaza for more than 30 international NGOs, and its approval in December of the creation of 19 new settlements in occupied Palestine as examples of the country's breaches of international law, justifying urgent action by Uefa.
“By persisting in its failure to react and continuing to recognise clubs located in illegally occupied territories, Uefa is sending a signal that it condones these actions. Football deserves better than that,” Schenker said.
The resolution does not directly revoke Uefa’s tax privileges. Instead, it instructs the Vaud government to open formal proceedings: to ask Uefa to justify how its current position aligns with its peace-promotion obligations and, depending on its response, to reassess the exemption.
If the government rules unfavourably, Uefa could challenge the decision in court.
“We know a resolution is symbolic,” Schenker told MEE. “But it sends a clear message. When parliament votes on something like this, the government usually follows up. And Uefa will notice it too.”
'We hope to win'
Support for the resolution spans four parties, ranging from the left to the liberal Greens, but its success hinges on persuading a number of right-leaning councillors, Schenker explained.
“We hope to win. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible,” he said.
Schenker estimates that he has secured around 65 votes so far, but with 150 seats in the Grand Council of Vaud, he needs roughly 75 if all councillors are present: “I’m working on convincing the remaining votes among right-wing colleagues.”
“Even before the government takes any action, just having parliament vote on this sends a signal,” Schenker said, adding that Uefa is already under internal pressure and that the resolution could provide “the missing energy” needed for member associations to push for a suspension of Israel in accordance with the ICJ ruling.
A source with knowledge of the matter told MEE that Uefa’s executive committee was set to vote on suspending Israel on 30 September over its genocide in Gaza, but the vote was paused after US President Donald Trump proposed a ceasefire plan on 29 September.
According to Ashish Prashar of campaign group Game Over Israel, Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin “can call a vote with a two-hour notice”.
“Ceferin's choice not to suspend the IFA is politics. You can't separate politics from football,” Prashar told MEE.
“And now that Trump has revealed what most of us know, that he never cared about peace, Ceferin's choice to ignore international law, 'give peace a chance' and halt the vote to suspend the IFA in September was either complicit or naive,” he added.
“Israel’s human rights abuses have been thoroughly documented and Uefa must remove them from the European confederation or accept the consequences of protecting impunity.”
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
