The Palestine national football team is the national team of the Palestinian Football Association, representing the Palestinian National Authority.[2]
The Palestine Football Federation was founded in 1952. Its successor, the Palestine Football Association, was recognized by FIFA in 1998, after the creation of the Palestinian Authority.
The team reached an all-time high position of 115 in the FIFA ranking system in April 2006 after seven years of progression from 191st in August 1999. Following their recognition by FIFA, the team played no official fixtures in the Palestinian Territories due to security concerns until a match on October 26, 2008 against Jordan in the newly renovated Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in Al-Ram north ofJerusalem, which finished in a 1–1 draw.[3] In recognition of their efforts the Palestinian Football Federation was awarded FIFA's inaugural Development Award.[4]
Beginnings
The game was originally introduced during the time of the British Mandate. Palestine has one of the oldest histories of organized football in the Middle East with evidence of the game being played at an organized level amongst Palestinians youths since at least the early 1920s.[5]Some notable clubs during the early years of Palestinian football were Shabab Al Arab of Haifa, the Orthodox Club of Jerusalem, and Islami Yaffa. During these years, Palestinian stars, such as Jabra Al-Zarqa, George Mardeni, and Majed Assad represented an excellence that was second to none. In fact, Jabra Al-Zarqa received an offer to play for Arsenal FC while playing in the British Army's Haifa League in 1945.[5]
The Palestine/Eretz Israel FA was formed in 1928 and joined FIFA in 1929 but at the time the association was made up of Arab clubs, Jewish clubs and clubs representing British policemen and soldiers serving in the region during the British Mandate rule that spanned the period between World War One and the independence of the state of Israel in 1948. After being phased out by the Palestine/Eretz Israel FA, Arab teams reorganized under the banner of the Arab Palestine Sports Federation which was organized in 1931 and reorganized in 1944.[6]The qualification matches for the 1934 and 1938 World Cups were contested by a Palestine/Eretz Israel team made up exclusively of Jewish and British players.[7]
Renaissance
Palestine applied to, and was admitted into, FIFA in 1998. They played their first friendly matches against Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria in July 1998. The following year, the team, led by Israeli-Arab coach Azmi Nasser took part in the 1999 Pan Arab Games, in which they won the bronze medal after beating Syria, Qatar, and the UAE, while only losing to hosts Jordan.
Palestine's first attempt to qualify for the 2000 Asian Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup were unsuccessful, but saw victories against Hong Kong and Malaysia.
The Chilean connection
In 2002, the PFA hired Nicola Shahwan as manager. Shahwan, who was born in Beit Jala, grew up in Chile and had many connections among Santiago's Palestinian community, whence he brought Roberto Bishara, Roberto Kettlun, Edgardo Abdala, Francisco Atura and the Argentine-born Pablo Abdala into the squad. These players made their debuts in the 2002 Arab Nations Cup. The team exited in the group stage but managed draws against group winners Jordan, hosts Kuwait, and Sudan, with their only loss coming against eventual semi-finalistsMorocco.
In 2004, two more Arab Latin Americans joined the Palestinian national team Hernán Madrid and the Argentine-born Alejandro Naif.
In 2004, two more Arab Latin Americans joined the Palestinian national team Hernán Madrid and the Argentine-born Alejandro Naif.
2006–present
After an unsuccessful Asian Cup qualifying campaign, the PFA hired Austrian coach Alfred Riedl to lead the team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifications. Palestine were drawn in a group alongside Uzbekistan, Iraq and Chinese Taipei. In their first match, Palestine recorded an historic 8–0 win against the Taiwanese; two months later a 1–1 draw against Iraq put Palestine in first place in the group. Preparation for the team's third game, away to Uzbekistan, were hampered after the Israeli authorities refused travel permits for nearly half the squad. Barely able to put together a full team, Palestine sank to a 3–0 defeat, before losing both of their remaining games.
Palestine were drawn in a group in Asian Cup Qualifying for the 2007 tournament alongside 2004 finalists China, eventual winners Iraq, and Singapore. Palestine still had a chance of qualifying until the penultimate round, after a 1–0 win against Singapore and a 2–2 draw against Iraq. Palestine was invited to participate in the inaugural Challenge Cup in Bangladesh, where they beat Guam 11–0, Cambodia 4–0 and drew with Bangladesh to top their group and reach the quarterfinal, where they were beaten 1–0 by Kyrgyzstan. In the summer of 2006, Palestine achieved its highest ever FIFA ranking at 115, placing them 16th in the Asian continent. The team remained without a manager for most of 2007 and preparations for World Cup Qualifying were severely lacking. Palestine lost the first leg of a two-legged play-off against Singapore 0–4 and did not play the return leg as a result of Israeli travel restrictions.
In 2008, with the assistance of FIFA's Goal program, Jibril Rajoub, head of the PFA had the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium built, and on October 28, 2008 Palestine held a match on home soil for the first time since becoming a member of FIFA, a 1–1 draw with Jordan in front of a crowd in excess of 7,000.[3] Palestine received the inaugural FIFA Development Award in recognition of the achievement.[4]
Two and a half years later, in March 2011, Palestine played its first ever competitive home game. The game, at the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, was the second leg of a qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games, against Thailand. Thailand had won the first leg 1–0 in Bangkok; Palestine won the second 1–0 with a goal by Abdelhamid Abuhabib in the 43rd minute. The draw on aggregate led to a penalty shootout, where Palestine lost by 5–6.[8] However, as Thailand was ordered to forfeit the first match because of fielding an ineligible player[9] (see Football at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's Asian Qualifiers Preliminary Round 1), Palestine replaced Thailand to play Bahrain next. In the next round against Bahrain, although Palestine won the first (away) match at Bahrain National Stadium by 1 – 0,[10] they lost the second (home) match by 1 – 2[11] and eliminated by away goals rule.[12]
The team beat Afghanistan 3–1 on aggregate (2–0 home, 1–1 away) in the first round of AFC qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They faced Thailand in the second round, with an away match on July 23, 2011 in Buriram, and a home match on July 28 at Al-Ram. Palestine lost the away leg 1-0, with back-up goalkeeper Mohammed Shbair saving a penalty in the dying moments of the match to keep the tie alive. Palestine took a 1-0 lead in the 6th minute of the return leg through a Murad Alyan goal but conceded 10 minutes before halftime, meaning they would have to win by two clear goals in order to advance. Palestine took a 2-1 lead late in the second half but had a man sent off and conceded a goal whilst desperately searching for a winner. They were eliminated form AFC qualification on an aggregate score of 2-3, if the Asian Football Confederation elects to keep the same qualifying format for the2018 FIFA World Cup they will be ranked 21st and receive a 1st round bye.
Difficulties
The Palestinian Football Federation faces problems in organising even training sessions for the entire team because of travel restrictions placed by Israel upon people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the difficulty in obtaining an exit visa from Israel. Palestine FA promised the Jordanian that they would not recruit players from there considering that almost 70% of the Jordanian population have Palestinian ancestry, while many Israeli-Arabs are unwilling to trade in their Israeli passport for a Palestinian one.[citation needed] Many players in the team are drawn from the Palestinian diaspora, from as far away as Chile and the United States.[13]
Recently, Israel's refusal to issue exit visas has resulted in players, or in some case the entire team, being unable to represent the country. In November 2006 (the last match of 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification group stage is scheduled), all players based inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip were denied exit visas. The AFC cancelled the match since both teams had been eliminated from the competition by virtue of their previous results against China and Iraq.[14] In October 2007, the second leg of a crucial 2010 World Cup qualifier between Palestine and Singapore was not played due to Palestine's inability to obtain exit visas. The AFC and FIFA decided not to reschedule the match despite protests from the PFA, and Singapore was awarded a 3–0 win in a walkover match.[15] In May 2008, the team was not allowed to travel to the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup. After a 2011 World Cup qualifier against Thailand, two starters, Mohammed Samara and Majed Abusidu, were refused entry to the West Bank and therefore could not travel back with the team from Thailand.[16]
Some of the athletes have been directly affected by the Arab–Israeli conflict. Tariq al Quto was killed by the Israel Defense Force,[17] and striker Ziyad Al-Kord was banned from travelling and had his house destroyed.[18] During the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict three Palestinian footballers, Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe, were among the Palestinian casualties.[19]
A film, Goal Dreams, was made about the team attempting to overcome obstacles in the qualification for the 2006 World Cup, who were also featured on the BBC documentary seriesFrontline Football.
