By Andrew Warshaw
September 30 – Palestinian football authorities have stepped up their campaign to overturn an order by FIFA to play a crucial World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on neutral ground.
Last June, Palestine, who had originally been slated to play the first group game between the two sides at home, agreed to a request by the Saudis to switch the fixtures round due to “exceptional conditions” and have been eagerly anticipating hosting the return on 13 October after being narrowly beaten 3-2 in Jeddah.
But now FIFA have ordered the corresponding Group A fixture, which could have a massive bearing over Palestine’s World Cup hopes, to be played on neutral ground and say the decision is “final and binding” with no possibility of appeal.
The Palestinian FA have already protested to FIFA president Sepp Blatter about favouritism towards the Saudis and have now taken their case to Asian Football Confederation chief Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al khalifa.
Salman was one of the three members of FIFA’s bureau of the World Cup organising committee that sanctioned the switch to neutral ground.
But in a letter to the Bahraini, Palestine FA president Jibril Rajoub appeals to him to intervene, warning of “grievous implications” for Palestinian football if the ruling, which has caused uproar among Palestinian supporters, is not reversed.
One solution offered to the Saudis by the Palestinians has been to fly the team direct from Amman to Ramallah, thus presumably avoiding potential embarrassing issues with Israeli border police.
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