Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Football Association, said that the Palestinian national team’s quest to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in history confirms the determination to overcome the devastation caused by the war in Gaza.
The Palestinian Federation faced obstacles to achieving success on the field that few other national teams faced, even before Israel launched its military attack on Gaza last year.
But coach Makram Daboub and his team succeeded in overturning all expectations and preserved the opportunity to represent Palestine in the 2026 finals, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Rajoub said, in an interview with Reuters last week, “The restrictions imposed on our movement and the stifling policies pursued by Israel paralyzed everything. We stopped everything, including the local league, but despite that, we insisted on continuing our participation in competitions, including the World Cup qualifiers.”
He added, “We have a real problem because we were unable to include any players from Gaza and dozens of them lost their lives. In Gaza, all sports facilities were destroyed, including most of the clubs and stadiums. Everything was destroyed,” and “In the West Bank, they are suffocating us and we cannot do anything.” But this is our determination and commitment.”
incentivize
Although increasing the number of teams participating in the World Cup to include 48 teams in 2026 has given a golden opportunity to a team like Palestine to participate in the tournament, there is a lot of work that needs to be done if the team wants to qualify for the tournament.
The Palestinian team is at the bottom of Group Two with two points from 4 matches, and will resume its campaign against Oman in Muscat on November 14, before “hosting” South Korea after another 5 days.
The Palestine national team has not hosted any international match in Jerusalem for 5 years, and its match with Korea, which leads the group, will be held in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Rajoub said, “It will never be like playing on your home soil. We love Jordan and we love Amman, but we love playing in Jerusalem, and we love playing in our homeland, but this is what we have.”
He continued, “We cannot play on our land, and this is difficult from a financial standpoint. We will play for the first time in Jordan, which is a country close to Palestine. I hope that some of our fans from Palestine will be able to come to the stadium.”
He stated, “We have the right to host. We must overcome this with our determination, the steadfastness of our people, and our commitment. We have no other choice.”
Hold on to hope
A World Cup qualification journey would help ease financial pressures. Every team that participated in the World Cup in Qatar two years ago returned home with at least $9 million, and the Palestine national team has already achieved some encouraging results in the third round of the Asian qualifiers.
The Palestinian team achieved an unexpected surprise by drawing 0-0 with South Korea in Seoul during the opening match of the group stage in September, then drawing with Kuwait last month.
Although direct qualification to the World Cup is unlikely, Palestine may advance to another round of qualifiers if it finishes third or fourth in Group Two, and it is currently only one point behind Oman, which is in fourth place.
Rajoub said, “I think the team is performing well. This is the first time in our history that we have qualified for the third round, despite the current situation.”
He stressed, “We do not have a local league, so it is not easy. Some players lost their lives, teammates, or coaches. This will also have a psychological impact, but despite this, we are trying and playing well. It can also be a source of motivation for the players.”
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