Orban hosts Israel for Euro 2024 qualifiers as Palestine's World Cup prep continues during war
The Palestine national football team's head coach Makram Daboub takes some comfort – for now at least – that his players stuck in Gaza are safe.
Lebanon Sport News
Palestinian soccer team prepares for World Cup qualifying games against a backdrop of war
Makram Daboub may be struggling to prepare his Palestinian team for the start of 2026 World Cup qualification but he takes some comfort, for now at least, that his players stuck in Gaza are safe. The national soccer team’s head coach wanted to include Ibrahim Abuimeir, Khaled Al-Nabris, and Ahmed Al-Kayed in a training camp in Jordan ahead of World Cup qualifying games against Lebanon next Thursday and Australia on Nov. 21. But they were unable to make it out of Gaza because of the Israel-Hamas war, now in its second month. “So far they are fine,” Daboub told The Associated Press. “Many of their relatives have died, however, as a result of the bombing.” Two players from Gaza, Egypt-based Mohamed Saleh and Mahmoud Wadi, are expected to join the Palestinian team in Jordan. Daboub, who is from Tunisia, acknowledged it will be difficult for players to focus on football while many have families in danger. “With the death and destruction in Gaza, the players are in a difficult psychological state,” Daboub said. But for Susan Shalabi, the vice president of the Palestine Football Association, there’s no question that the players and the people want the games to go ahead. “This is a people that wants to be heard and seen by the rest of the world, wants to live normally like everyone else, so people care about their national team,” Shalabi told The AP. “It represents the yearning to be recognized as a free and sovereign nation.” The Palestine Football Association became a full member of FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, in 1998 and has had some success at the regional level.
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Fans have mixed response to footballers expressing solidarity over Gaza conflict
BEIRUT: Top-tier footballers, including Mohamed Salah, Karim Benzema and Noussair Mazraoui, have sparked controversy in recent days after voicing their opinions on the situation in Gaza via social media posts. Players’ comments expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza have attracted millions of conflicting responses and drawn condemnation. Bayern Munich’s Moroccan Mazraoui, Mainz’s Dutchman Anwar El Ghazi, Nice’s Algerian Yousef Atal and others were suspended or subject to questioning by their clubs after sharing their opinions on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Arab News interviewed a cross-section of fans, who expressed mixed reactions over players’ use of social media to share their viewpoints. Brazilian-Portuguese coach Jorvan Vieira believes that “football never works with politics, but unfortunately nowadays, there is politics in football and all sports in general.” Although the public might condemn their comments, players have the right to express themselves as “humans,” Vieira said, adding that reacting to events in Gaza is based on “humanitarian grounds.” He said: “Some people might misinterpret players’ opinions, saying this is political, but this is humanitarian.