Matan Segal Heads Kicking Racism Out of Israeli Soccer Program

Matan Segal: Kick It Out

 

For many Israelis football (soccer) has never been just about the game itself. It’s about the community, the devotion, the sense of belonging one gets from identifying with a team. But the sport also breeds something darker than mere passion.

“Soccer fans reflect the extreme of society where hate and racism blow up,” says Matan Segal, program manager of Kick It Out, an initiative that fights racism on and beyond the soccer field. “I started this job because I love football and I hate racism,” he says.

Inspired by the British model of the same name, Kick It Out was founded by the New Israel Fund in the early 2000s to address rising racism and violence in Israeli stadiums. Today, the program operates through the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva.

Segal was raised in Jerusalem in a modern Orthodox family. He followed Hapoel Jerusalem games passionately, reading the team’s paper during the week and watching matches after Shabbat. However, as he grew up and began forming his political views, he started to see a contradiction at the heart of Israeli soccer. On one hand, the sport brought Jews and Arabs together to play, work, and socialize.

On the other hand, the stands told a different story. “You can hear the fans, the way they are talking, the way they are acting,” he says. He points to a recent case of a Palestinian Israeli goalkeeper who had returned to the Israeli league after playing in the West Bank. When he was offered a spot on a primarily Jewish team, the fan base protested until his contract was canceled.

During the 2025-26 regular season, Kick It Out documented 204 racist chants across Premier League stadiums—a 22% decrease from the previous year, thanks in part to new FIFA legislation regarding penalties for racist offenses that Kick It Out helped advocate for. “The racism runs very deep, and it takes a lot of guts to change it,” says Segal. “Basically, that’s what we are trying to do.”

Segal first came to Kick It Out five years ago. After more than two decades under the New Israel Fund, he helped bring Kick It Out to Givat Haviva in 2024. “We’re not only reporting about what is happening on the field, but also trying to enact changes directly,” he says.

Segal and forty volunteers attend soccer matches across the country, documenting incidents and producing periodic reports for the Ministry of Culture and Sports. But the work extends well beyond documentation, to coordinating educational initiatives, organizing professional conferences, and maintaining ongoing dialogue with the entities responsible for sports in Israel. They have broadcast campaigns on popular sports channels, produced viral online content with famous soccer players, and organized themed tournaments.

Kick It Out’s effort has two pillars. “First through education, we work with volunteers, sport trainers, and players to show there is more that binds them—the love of the sport—than what divides them,” Segal explains. “Second is policy. How we can make the life of the fans better, and the environment on the field better to help stop racism and violence.” Moving games to an earlier hour, or making bathrooms cleaner, so the games are more family friendly have changed the atmosphere among fans.

He points to Beitar Jerusalem hosting Saturday afternoon matches instead of late nights. “There’s less racism over there. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. People coming with family, people who are less drunk,” he says.

Segal is hopeful about effecting substantive change. Three decades ago, he notes, it was normal to hear racist chants against black players in European stadiums. Now it’s widely condemned by the fans themselves. Of course, extremism in stadiums isn’t unique to Israel. Segal has studied programs elsewhere to tailor them to the local context. “It has worked in places like the Ivory Coast and Europe. So, it can happen here,” he says.

Kick It Out’s latest report, issued in March, showed a 22% drop in racist chants in Israeli Premier League stadiums, the first decrease in three years. However, violent incidents in the stadiums, as well as against bus drivers after matches, rose 67.5% this year.

Segal acknowledges the obstacles to addressing the roots of racism “A racist person will be racist in the afternoon and also in the night. But when you create a better atmosphere on the field, they will be more cautious and open-minded,” he says. And when someone does act on their racism, he wants meaningful consequences: “You need to tell them: you want to go back? You need to go to a workshop that will teach you about racism. You’re doing it with roads and bad drivers, so why not here?” He hopes that Kick It Out will inspire changes like these at the policy level.

Meanwhile, he has a message for his fellow soccer fans. He insists their goals aren’t different. Everyone wants a better, cleaner environment and to keep out violent fans.

For Segal, the shared love for a team is a doorway. “When you’re going to matches, you need to remember that the people sitting next to you are also fans. So, you have something in common. And when you have something in common, it’s an opening to talk to people who are different,” he says.

Still, there are matches he won’t take his daughters to because of the racism present among fans of certain teams. But he is proud of his team Hapoel’s working-class roots and its reputation for respecting diversity. “This is the way that I think football should be, and society should reflect that,” he says.

“I truly believe that football can make peace,” Segal says. The sport may reflect the country’s darkest tendencies today, but it also has the potential to inspire a better future.

Sami Jinich recently moved to Israel from Maryland, working as Assistant to the Director of Strategy in Givat Haviva and as a Community Educator at the Younited International School, with support from the New Israel Fund’s Shatil Social Justice Fellowship.