Puma ends partnership with Israel's 2024 national soccer team
The German sporting goods manufacturer Puma has announced that it will end its partnership with the Israeli national team next year. The decision was made at the end of last year, explained the company from Herzogenaurach, i.e. before the start of the war in Gaza. Accordingly, the contracts with some nations, including Serbia and Israel, will expire regularly in 2024.
Puma has concluded partner agreements with two new national teams, which are to be published later this year and next year. "These decisions have been made in 2022, taking into account the timelines for the designs and development of the team kits," a company spokeswoman explained.
The contract between the Football Association of Israel and Puma was signed in 2018 and led to calls for a boycott by activists who accused Puma of supporting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank with its sponsorship. The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip intensified these calls.
The war was triggered by an unprecedented large-scale attack by Hamas on Israel. Hundreds of fighters from the Palestinian organization, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, invaded Israel and committed atrocities, mainly against civilians. According to Israeli reports, around 1,200 people were killed and around 240 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Following the Hamas attack, Israel launched massive attacks on targets in the Gaza Strip. According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, almost 18,000 people have been killed there since then, most of them women and children.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
- Numerous oil, gas and coal lobbyists at climate conference
- Despite the intensive war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which escalated calls for a boycott against Puma due to their sponsorship of the Israeli national football team, the company had already made the decision to end their partnership with Israel and Serbia by the end of 2022.
- Amidst the ongoing controversy, Puma has chosen to form new partnerships with two unnamed national teams, a move that was announced in 2022 with the consideration of the design and development timelines for the team kits.
- As Puma ends its partnership with Israel's football team ahead of the 2024 games, the German sportswear giant will not be lending its brand to the Israeli national football team's kit design during the team's upcoming competitions, a move that resonates with those who criticized the company for supporting Israeli activities in the West Bank.
Source: www.ntv.de
