Palestine: FIFA relents but rules are still bent

FIFA has been in the media spotlight this week as its practices and procedures have come under increasing scrutiny and its conduct has become of great concern to many of its member countries.

Symptomatic of its questionable practices was a complaint I made to FIFA last year concerning the information posted on its official web site concerning one of FIFA’s members – Palestine  – which then appeared as a country with defined borders, a stated area comprising the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, with a population whose numbers excluded the 500 000 Jews who lived there and a currency that did not exist.

Following my complaint FIFA has since taken some welcome action to revamp its website.

FIFA has now amended its country information for every member state by deleting all information relating to main cities, population, currency and neighbouring countries. The general and geographic information for Palestine is as follows: 

General Information

FIFA Trigramme: PLE

Country: Palestine

Country (official name): Palestine

Continent: Asia

Capital: None

Geographic Information

Surface area: 6,326 km²