Amid Genocide, Palestine Attempts to Qualify for Its First World Cup

Part of the Series

Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

The Palestinian national soccer team played a formidable South Korean side to a goalless draw in Seoul last month, an impressive result for a team looking to clinch its first ever qualification for the FIFA World Cup. The team aims to build upon an impressive showing at this year’s Asian Cup, where it captured the hearts of fans from across the continent as it reached the knockout stage for the first time in its history. Notwithstanding its narrow 1-0 defeat to Iraq on October 10, Palestine is closer to the World Cup than it has ever been, advancing to the third round of qualification for the 2026 tournament.

In what once may have been termed “normal” times, these achievements might have inspired numerous academic and journalistic pieces about the resilience of Palestinian athletes and the uplifting power of sport in the face of adversity. Video packages would profile the lives of individual players, showcasing their talents against seemingly insurmountable odds created by the violence of occupation and forced exile. Heart wrenching scenes of soccer players held at Israeli checkpoints while en route to training or doing practice drills on fields destroyed by Israeli shelling would be interspersed with fast-paced clips of slick goals and gutsy tackles in high-stakes matches. But these are not “normal” times.

The scale of the death, deprivation and destruction in Gaza, livestreamed across the world during the past year, has exposed the limits of international law, human rights norms, and the so-called “rules-based order.” It has also vastly diminished and irrevocably transformed the power of cultural institutions — including organized sports — to act as sites of resistance and empowerment in the face of what has become the most devastating genocidal war of this century. It would furthermore be unfitting to reduce the role of soccer for Palestinians as one of escapism and momentary joy amid this ceaseless annihilation of Palestinian life.

Rather, along with the mass starvation policy imposed by Israel and the effective decimation of the health and education sectors, the destruction of houses of worship and cultural heritage sites, soccer has become another window into both the scale of the war on Gaza and the abject failure of the global response.

According to the Palestinian Football Association, the national governing body for the sport, as of July, Israel had killed 343 Palestinian athletes in the midst of its Gaza campaign that has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, forcibly displaced 2 million people, and destroyed the majority of Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure. In addition to the devastating assaults on hospitals, schools, markets and mosques, Gaza’s soccer infrastructure has not been spared. Some of Gaza’s soccer pitches, such as the Al-Yarmouk Stadium, have been seized by Israeli occupation forces and used as detention camps where Palestinian prisoners have been starved and tortured. Soccer club facilities such as the Al-Salah Football Club, where thousands of displaced residents have taken shelter, have been bombed. Other fields have had to serve as mass graves for the uncounted dead.

Nor have the most celebrated figures in Palestinian soccer avoided the fates of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. Mohammed Barakat, a legend of Palestinian soccer and the first to reach the century goal mark in the domestic league, was killed when Israeli forces bombed his home in March. Asking forgiveness from his parents and prayers from his supporters, he shared a tearful video farewell message that was posted widely, another tragic sign that no one and nowhere in Gaza was safe. Hani Al-Masdar enjoyed a remarkable playing career before becoming the coach of the Palestinian Olympic team, where he was immensely popular among fans and players alike, known for his good humor and ability to nurture talented young players. He was killed by an Israeli missile in January. In June, Al-Ahly Club defender Ahmad Abu Al-Atta was killed with his wife and two children when an Israeli airstrike targeted their home. More recently, on September 10, Hamdi Lubbad, a midfielder for Al-Yarmouk Club in Gaza, was killed by Israel along with his wife and four daughters.

Such wanton violence as has been witnessed this past year comes on the back of decades of Israeli military occupation and apartheid policies that have impacted every aspect of Palestinian life. To say that no national team has ever had to contend with what Palestinian soccer has endured would be a massive understatement.

Going back years, Palestinian soccer players have been shot and permanently disabled by Israeli forces, had their homes demolished, and have been imprisoned for years without charges. A defender on the national team, Mahmoud Sarsak was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint in 2009 while attempting to join his teammates. He was only released in 2012 after going on a three-month hunger strike. Upon his release, Sarsak proclaimed that Israeli officials were deliberately targeting Palestinian athletes to prevent them from competing. In March 2023, Israeli forces arrested national team player Ahmed Abu Khadija just hours after his club were crowned champions of the Palestinian league.

Notwithstanding its narrow 1-0 defeat to Iraq on October 10, Palestine is closer to the World Cup than it has ever been, advancing to the third round of qualification for the 2026 tournament.

The national team’s recent success comes despite life-and-death struggles that confront members of the team as they do all Palestinians. Mahmoud Wadi, who was in Egypt at the time of Israel’s invasion of Gaza, has spoken of the challenge of playing while desperately awaiting news regarding family and friends under assault in Khan Younis. Ataa Jaber, who previously played for the Israeli youth team, endured death threats and calls by officials to strip him of his Israeli citizenship after deciding to join the Palestinian national team. For good measure, Israeli forces made it a point to write Jaber’s name on a missile bound for Gaza.

While training for the historic match against Lebanon, defender Mohammed Saleh received a call from his brother informing him that family members in Gaza were at risk of starvation due to Israel’s siege. Then, as he made his way to join the team ahead of the qualifier match against South Korea, goalkeeping coach Iyad Falana received news that his eldest son was abducted by Israeli forces during a raid on their home in the West Bank.

Indeed, the structural limitations that restrict life for all Palestinians have undoubtedly impacted the ability of soccer players to pursue their passion. The national team has traditionally included players from across occupied Palestine including Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as those Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Each of these categories is governed according to different sets of laws that determine their freedom of movement. The team also includes Palestinian refugees who have been denied their right of return. This has made managing the squad a logistical nightmare, as many players are barred from traveling or congregating in any one location. Pre-match training sessions have increasingly been held abroad, as have Palestine’s official home matches, with Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia all recently hosting Palestinian soccer matches.

In August, FIFA ruled that the Palestinian Football Association must be permitted to hold its home matches in Palestine. But the decision came too late for the critical home match against Jordan on September 10, nor was there any indication as to how such a decision would be enforced given Israel’s past intransigence with regard to Palestinian soccer.

In response to the long list of Israeli violations of FIFA statutes, including playing league matches on illegally occupied territory, systematic racial discrimination, killings of Palestinian players and the destruction of soccer facilities, earlier this year the Palestinian Football Association submitted a formal request to FIFA demanding Israel’s suspension from international competition. The recent mass bombing campaign and invasion of Lebanon means that Israel has now become responsible for the indefinite suspension of two national soccer leagues while its own teams continue to compete domestically and internationally with no repercussions.

FIFA was quick to suspend Russia from international competition within days of the latter’s invasion of Ukraine. However, soccer’s governing body has repeatedly delayed its decision on Israel, three times rescheduling a special meeting to discuss the issue despite mounting global pressure. During its October 3 meeting, FIFA yet again deferred its ruling, this time appointing a committee to investigate the Palestinian Football Association’s allegation that Israeli clubs operate in occupied Palestine. This “allegation,” it should be noted, is clear for all to see and has been well documented by international bodies for years, so this decision appears little more than a cynical delay tactic by the FIFA leadership. On the same day that FIFA declined to penalize the many violations of its own statutes, Israel killed yet another Palestinian soccer player, 20-year-old Majdy Salem of Tulkarem FC in the occupied West Bank.

Given FIFA’s history of financial corruption and selective embrace of political appeals, it seems unlikely to take action against Israel, particularly at a time when FIFA officials are desperately seeking corporate sponsors and broadcasting partners for the Club World Cup, to be held in the United States next summer. The cultural boycott of South Africa, including the country’s expulsion by FIFA in 1976, has long been considered crucial to the struggle to end apartheid. In its failures to take action against Israel, however, FIFA adds itself to the list of international bodies, from the United Nations on down, that have failed the moral test of our time. Meanwhile, through its quest to compete — and indeed, survive — Palestinian soccer sheds light on the broader struggle for Palestinian liberation.