A larger meaning

Football continues to attract global attention during the Christmas-New Year season as 24 African national teams are competing in the continent’s Cup of Nations taking place in Morocco between Dec. 21 and Jan. 18. Football can be more than a player and spectator sport as team victories confer honour on nations and their citizens.

Football can also be a political tool. For example, the game is advancing the Palestinian cause. Palestine’s first ever game in the in the quarterfinals of the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2025 ended during extra time when Saudi Arabia broke the 1-1 tie by scoring a second goal. Despite Palestine’s loss, the riveting game displayed team skills when playing a well trained and well financed team.

In November, the Palestinian national team played its first international game in Europe when a stadium and the streets of Bilbao were filled with fans during a match against a Basque team keen to promote its own cause. Palestinian and Basque flags fluttered over the streets of Bilbao as supporters of both clubs were united by the demand for independence. Although Palestine lost 3-0, this did not dampen enthusiasm for the event. Funds raised from the match went to Doctors Without Borders. Sporting director of the Basque Football Federation, Mikel De Gregorio, told DW, “Palestine is living through a genocide, they are being massacred in Gaza, and history will ask us what we were doing at that moment to try to stop it.”

He pointed out, “We are a culture with our own language, our own identity, our own traditions, and sometimes it’s difficult to explain to the rest of the world that we want our place in the world. So, from that point of view, I think we see some similarities with [the] situation of Palestine.”

Whatever the results of matches, Palestine’s appearance was a milestone on the 100-year-long road to achieve global political recognition and independence. Like a national symbol and an anthem, a football team is a boost for a people struggling for statehood. The State of Palestine is recognised by 157 of the 193 UN member states, including Spain and Ireland, amounting to 81 percent of the international community. This figure was reached in September this year when 10 countries recognised Palestine, including major international actors France, Britain, Australia, and Canada. The US, of course, remains a hold out. Recognition expands Palestine’s global standing, strengthens its ability to gain support for its campaign against the Israeli occupation, and steps up pressure on the West to implement the decades-delayed two-state solution.

Football is, therefore, a powerful weapon in the Palestinian struggle against Israel and its allies. It is the most widely played sport in the world with billions of players and fans. It is easily understood; equipment is not expensive and enjoys wide appeal across cultures and continents. Main events like the FIFA World Cup attract billions of spectators and media coverage. Football is played by professional leagues, grassroots teams, and girls and boys in the streets and on the fields of schools, colleges, and universities.

There are 18 local men’s teams in the West Bank and 15 in Gaza while there are six local women’s teams in both areas. The men’s national team was formed in 1928 during the British mandate while the women’s national team was only founded in 2003 because the conservative society resisted women’s sports. The team lost their first match when they played Jordan in 2005 but five years later, they qualified for the women’s Asian cup but did not make it to the final stage of the tournament. The women’s team secured its first international win by scoring four goals against none for the Maldives. In May 2004, the team won an unofficial friendly game against Ireland’s Bohemians in Dublin, marking the first time any senior Palestinian national team played in Europe.

Unfortunately for Palestinian footballers all domestic activities and events have been suspended since 2023 by the national football association. Since Israel began to wage war on in 2023 after the Hamas attack that killed 1,200, there has been no Palestinian football league and clubs no longer function. Hundreds of Palestinian athletes have been wounded or killed, notably the country’s most famous footballer, Suleiman Al-Obeid, 41, known as the “Palestinian Pele.” Almost all surviving players on the Palestinian national team are based outside Palestine.

Members of the team come from all areas in Israeli- occupied Palestine and are given a chance to shine in the game. This is an opportunity many would not have in their home communities. Those from Gaza escape daily Israeli siege, bombardment, death and starvation.

Palestinian national team members receive payments, but they can be fitful and low although they come from external federation funds. Club salaries are unreliable although players can receive bonuses if they or their teams play well. Top players migrate to foreign teams and international leagues to earn a fixed, stable income which they can remit to their families.

While the game was introduced during the Ottoman Empire before it collapsed in 2019, the Palestinian Federation was only founded in 1928 in British mandatory Palestine. The federation joined FIFA (the International Football Federation) in 1988 after the declaration of independence by the Palestinian Authority and is governed by the Asian Football Confederation. The team has not, so far, qualified for the World Cup. Not for want of trying.

Photo: AFP