Chile FA ban Palestino’s anti-Israeli shirt

The Chilean football federation has banned a top division team from using a new shirt that has the number one shaped as the map of Palestine before the creation of Israel.

Jewish organisations complained that the design implied that all the land was Palestinian, and with the Chilean federation saying it opposed any form of discrimination, they fined the Santiago-based club £800.

Palestino unveiled the new shirts in December, keeping the club’s traditional colours, matching those of the Palestine flag – red, green and black.

While Jewish organisations in Chile complained, it was the owner of first division club Nublense, Patrick Kiblisky, who put forward a formal complaint against Palestino. He said: “We cannot accept the involvement of football with politics and religion.”

The federation said it had decided to punish Palestino because it was opposed to “any form of political, religious, sexual, ethnic, social or racial discrimination”.