London, 26th May 2026 – ICJP and War on Want have issued Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy with a letter raising concerns over sportswashing of Israeli atrocities in Palestine by the English Premier League (EPL), EPL clubs, and the English Football Association (FA). These activities are extensively outlined in War on Want’s recent report, Red Card: English Premier League Sportswashing of Israel’s Atrocities against the Palestinians, which has also been supported by ICJP.
ICJP and War on Want have previously issued letters to the EPL, Premier League clubs, and the FA raising concerns over their complicity in Israeli atrocities via their ties to companies linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and apartheid across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
The report details the connections of at least 15 Premier League club sponsors to Israel’s devastating military assault and blockade on Gaza, construction of illegal settlements, and wider system of apartheid.
The companies identified include AXA, BP, Canon, Carlsberg, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Eurobank, Evelyn Partners, Expedia/Hotels.com, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), HSBC, Standard Chartered, Oracle and Sony. Nine clubs were found to have complicit sponsors: Arsenal, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur. Two others, Brighton and Burnley, have sponsors at risk of complicity.
Alarmingly, every single one of the 20 Premier League clubs is indirectly sponsored by Barclays Bank which is the main sponsor of the Premier League despite Barclays’ decades-long links to systematic racial discrimination – both in apartheid South Africa and in Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. The sponsorship deal with Barclays makes a mockery of the Premier League’s campaign to ‘kick racism out of football’.
Órlaith Roe, ICJP’s Public Affairs and Communications Officer, said:
“Lisa Nandy has the authority and the duty to safeguard the integrity of British sport. That responsibility cannot be squared with silence in the face of well‑documented war crimes and systematic discrimination. We are calling on the Secretary of State to use her position to ensure that UK sporting bodies are not aligned with institutions implicated in genocide and apartheid. The public expects leadership that reflects our national commitment to human rights, not a willingness to look the other way.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians is an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.
- For more information, to arrange an interview with a spokesperson, please contact the ICJP news desk at [email protected].
- For media enquiries with War on Want contact: Niall Couper [email protected] and Neil Sammonds [email protected].
Image: Wiganer1995 via Wikimedia Commons
