May 18 – Anti-poverty charity War on Want has accused a number of Premier League clubs of helping “normalise genocide and apartheid” through sponsorship agreements with companies allegedly linked to Israel’s actions in Palestine.
In a chunky new report titled ‘Red Card: English Premier League Complicity in Israel’s Atrocities against the Palestinians’, released this morning, the UK-based campaign group claims at least 15 corporations connected to Premier League clubs are “complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people”.
The report details the connections of at least 15 Premier League club sponsors to Israel’s military assault and blockade on Gaza, construction of illegal settlements, and wider system of apartheid.
Among the companies named are AXA, BP, Cisco, Coca-Cola, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Oracle and Sony.
The report places Liverpool top of what it calls a ‘Premier League Table of Complicity’, followed by north London neighbours Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
According to the rankings, Liverpool have six sponsors identified by the organisation as being guilty in supporting Israel – including premium partners Standard Chartered and AXA, who sponsor the front of Liverpool’s shirts and the training centre respectively.
Arsenal and Tottenham each recorded five sponsors, while both Manchester clubs were listed with four.
The report argues that football’s global reach is being used to ‘sportswash; corporations through shirt sponsorships, stadium advertising and commercial partnerships viewed by billions worldwide.
“There is injustice at the heart of football,” the report states. “Football should not be used to normalise genocide and apartheid.”
War on Want’s wider criticism extends beyond individual clubs, with the organisation also targeting the Premier League, the FA and the UK government.
“Arguably the world’s best and certainly its most watched national football league, the English Premier League, is awash with corporate sponsors complicit in Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the report says.
“The clubs, the FA and EPL must act urgently, even while the UK government chooses to keep supporting and shielding Israel.”
The organisation is calling for clubs to introduce stricter ethical and human rights-based sponsorship screening processes, aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
It also urged football authorities to take a firmer position against the Israel Football Association (IFA), accusing FIFA of failing to properly sanction Israeli football structures linked to settlements in occupied territories.
The issue again places football squarely in the middle of a wider geopolitical debate that clubs, leagues and governing bodies have generally sought to avoid publicly.
Neil Sammonds, Senior Campaigner on Palestine at War on Want, said: “These clubs speak proudly about equality, inclusion and community. Yet behind the branding, some are using ‘sportswashing’ to sanitise corporations connected to some of the gravest crimes and humanitarian catastrophes of our time.
Palestinian footballers are being killed. Stadiums are turned into detention camps. Child players are buried beneath rubble.
The Premier League has shown before that it can act when sponsorship becomes morally toxic. The question is why Palestinian lives appear to count for less.”
Neither the Premier League nor the clubs named in the report had publicly responded at the time of writing.
To see the full report click here.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]