Palestine FA chief loses CAS ban appeal after ‘inciting violence and hatred’ against Lionel Messi

PALESTINE football chief Jibril Rajoub has lost his appeal against a 12-month Fifa ban for “inciting hatred and violence” against Lionel Messi. Rajoub called on Palestinian fans to target the Barcelona star and burn his jerseys ahead of Argentina’s pre-World Cup friendly against Isreal. And the Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the ban […]

PALESTINE football chief Jibril Rajoub has lost his appeal against a 12-month Fifa ban for “inciting hatred and violence” against Lionel Messi.

Rajoub called on Palestinian fans to target the Barcelona star and burn his jerseys ahead of Argentina’s pre-World Cup friendly against Isreal.

And the Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the ban Fifa slapped on Rajoub for his outburst.

The game was to take place at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem – a ground disputed by the Palestinians – on June 9 last year.

But, amid political tensions between the two countries, Rajoub, 66, vigorously protested against the arrival of Argentina – and Messi in particular.

He said: “He’s [Messi] a big symbol so we are going to target him personally and we call on all to burn his picture and his shirt and to abandon him.

“We still hope that Messi will not come.”

The match was eventually cancelled, prompting the Israeli FA to complain to Fifa.

The governing body then banned Rajoub from football matches until August 23, 2019 and hit him with a fine of around £16,000.

After his appeal was rejected, the Palestine FA president took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

But Cas ruled that he “failed to establish that any procedural violations were committed in the proceedings before the Fifa disciplinary committee… that could justify the annulment of such decisions”.

And the court added in a statement: “Accordingly, the CAS panel dismissed the appeal and confirmed Fifa appeal committee decision of 24 September 2018.”