Reebok Denies Claims Of Logo Removal From Israel Team Jerseys Amid Boycott Calls
Global sportswear brand Reebok has denied reports that it ordered its logo removed from the jerseys of Israel’s national football teams, rejecting claims circulated in Israeli media amid growing international calls for boycotts against companies linked to the Israel Football Association (IFA), as per Reuters.
The controversy surfaced after reports suggested that Reebok had instructed its Israeli distributor, MSG, to remove the logo from kits supplied independently to the national team.
These claims, widely shared in Israeli outlets, alleged that the move followed mounting pressure from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The IFA, in turn, threatened possible legal action against the company, accusing it of yielding to “boycott threats.”
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However, speaking to Reuters on Tuesday (September 30), a Reebok spokesperson dismissed the allegations.“Reebok is proud of our record as a unifier of all cultures on and off the pitch. Reports in Israeli news outlets claiming that Reebok has directed the IFA to remove its logos from its national team kits are simply not true,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to honour our brand’s and our local licensee’s commitment to the IFA. We don’t do politics; we do sport.”
The IFA itself confirmed that the national team’s official kits in international matches will continue to feature the Reebok logo as before. Israel’s players, wearing Reebok-sponsored jerseys, posed for a group photo on September 5 ahead of their World Cup qualifying match against Moldova in Chisinau.
Reebok became the official sponsor of the IFA earlier this year under a two-year deal, stepping in after Italian brand Erreà backed away from a similar agreement without ever supplying kits, following boycott campaigns.
Erreà had originally been lined up to replace Puma, which ended its sponsorship in December 2023, citing a decision made in 2022 after sustained global pressure.
Over the past decade, major brands including Adidas and Puma have faced international campaigns urging them to sever ties with the IFA. Adidas withdrew in 2018 following petitions and appeals by Palestinian teams, while Puma ended its contract after a five-year global boycott movement that accused the IFA of including teams from illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
The latest dispute comes as the BDS movement intensifies calls for a boycott of Reebok, arguing that the company’s partnership with the IFA makes it “complicit in Israel’s grave crimes against Palestinians.”
The group points to the IFA’s inclusion of settlement-based clubs and Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian athletes’ movement as evidence of its role in sustaining what activists call an “apartheid regime.”
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“Reebok claims its mission is to inspire human movement for all, yet it sponsors the apartheid that the IFA helps sustain, including denying Palestinians the right to freedom of movement,” the BDS movement said in a statement earlier this year.
The campaign, under the hashtag #BoycottReebok, has urged global consumers to avoid the brand until it ends its sponsorship of the IFA.
The controversy also comes at a sensitive moment for Israel’s place in international football. UEFA is expected to discuss potential measures against Israel this week, as calls mount for the country to be barred from World Cup qualifiers and for its club teams to be excluded from European competitions.
Critics argue that Israel’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, where Palestinian authorities and human rights groups say over 700 athletes have been killed since January, and all major sports facilities destroyed, amount to “sporticide.” They accuse the IFA of complicity in these attacks through its alignment with state policy.
