Netanyahu meets with South American Football Confederation President and FIFA Vice President in Jerusalem.
By United with Israel Staff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday met in Jerusalem with South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) President and FIFA Vice President Alejandro Dominguez and members of his delegation, together with Israel Football Association (IFA) President Moshe Shino Zuares and IFA CEO Niv Goldstein.
Prime Minister Netanyahu commended CONMEBOL President and his delegation for coming to Israel, praising an agreement to expand cooperation between the IFA and CONMEBOL.
CONMEBOL President and FIFA Vice President Dominguez told the Prime Minister that he had agreed on the arrival of the Argentinian national team, including Lionel Messi, and its youth team for friendly exhibition games in Israel and added that IFA President Zuares and his Argentinian counterpart, Claudio Tapia, would coordinate on the dates for the matches.
The Argentinian national team had been set to play an exhibition match in Jerusalem against Israel’s national team, but the game was canceled following anti-Israel protests and threats against the Argentinian players.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu also spoke by telephone with Paraguayan President Santiago Peña, who recently announced that Paraguay would be moving its embassy back to Jerusalem.
“I was very happy to hear about your decision on the embassy,” Netanyahu said. “But also I’d very much like to talk to you about strengthening even further our ties between Paraguay and Israel. I look forward to receiving you in Jerusalem, in the reconstituted embassy and at the UN.”