In a decision that was made before the incident that Hamas carried out on October 7, a spokeswoman for the German sportswear company Puma announced on Tuesday that the company will no longer be sponsoring Israel’s national football team in the next year.
“While two newly signed national teams, including a new statement team, will be announced later this year and in 2024, the contracts of some federations, such as Serbia and Israel, will expire in 2024,” according to an emailed statement from the spokesman.
The spokesman stated that the decision was made in 2022 as part of Puma’s new “fewer-bigger-better strategy” and that it was per the normative timetables for developing team jerseys.
The Financial Times they were first reported on the decision. The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement had called for a boycott of the sportswear company because of its involvement in the Israeli team’s sponsorship before the incident that occurred on October 7.
However, in the aftermath of Israel’s military incursion in the Gaza Strip, which began after the fatal Hamas attack in southern Israel, calls for a boycott have become more forceful and have spread to include a more significant number of companies and goods.
