Officials from the Spanish administration have hinted that they would withdraw their national squad from the 2026 World Cup.
Next summer, the largest football tournament in the world will be held in Canada, Mexico, and the United States—the first time three distinct countries have hosted the competition.
Champions in Europe After winning two straight at the beginning of qualifying, Spain is the early favourite to win and is expected to secure their spot in the tournament.
However, there are already rumours that if Israel qualifies for the World Cup as well, Luis de la Fuente’s team would boycott the competition.
Israel has a genuine possibility of earning at least a play-off position, despite currently finishing third in their qualifying group. With three games left, they are now tied for second place with Italy and six points behind group leaders Norway.
Only the group winner advances to the World Cup automatically; depending on the outcomes of other groups, second place may guarantee a play-off spot.
Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, has demanded that Israel be barred from international sporting events due to its conduct in Gaza.
Sanchez stated earlier this week that Israel ought to receive the same treatment as Russia, which FIFA and UEFA banned from international competition after its 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
“Israel cannot continue to whitewash its image on any international platform,” Sanchez said to his Socialist Workers’ Party representatives.
There are good reasons to believe that Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts as defined by international law in Gaza, according to a United Nations (UN) committee of investigation that was announced on Tuesday.
The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which claimed almost 1,200 lives and resulted in 251 hostages, set off the current battle.
According to data supplied by the Gaza health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas and whose figures are accepted by the UN as accurate, Israel’s retaliatory operation has killed at least 64,964 Palestinians.
Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, referred to Sanchez as “a disgrace” for his remarks, and the country’s foreign office flatly dismissed the UN report as “distorted and false.”
Is it possible for Spain to skip the 2026 World Cup?
Patxi Lopez, a spokesman for the Socialist Group in the Spanish Congress, has proposed that if Israel qualifies and is permitted to compete in the upcoming World Cup, the Spanish government might decide to boycott it.
next similar declarations in the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia, and Iceland, Spanish broadcaster RTVE threatened to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest the next year if Israel participated.
Lopez echoed Sanchez by urging sports organisations to “exclude” Israel from contests, similar to what was done with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
Lopez responded (via COPE) that “we’ll consider it later” when asked if Spain would withdraw if Israel were let to play in the World Cup, adding that a request may be made “at the appropriate time” if nothing is done against Israel.
In view of the deteriorating situation in Gaza, Pilar Alegria, the Minister of Sports and spokesman for the Spanish government, has also asked for Israel to be barred from international events.
“Sport is not, and cannot be, an island independent of what happens in the real world, especially when that real world tells us that human rights are being destroyed,” she stated.
The remarks made by Sanchez, Lopez, and Alegria have not yet received a public response from FIFA or UEFA.
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