‘We played for Gaza’: How Palestine’s U-20 Women’s team went from underdogs to champions

AMSTERDAM: When rank outsiders secure a victory they tend, often, to be of the moral variety. If victory is achieved it rarely ends up with an outsider advancing to the final match and lifting the trophy. 

On Saturday afternoon, Palestine’s U-20 Women’s team did just that. While Palestine’s senior men’s team has been punching above its weight for the past decade it has been an entirely different story for other teams in the program. 

Palestine has been absolutely abject in youth football. Since gaining admission to the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA in 1998, Palestine’s men’s and women’s teams have qualified for a single youth tournament, the U-23 Asian Cup.

The gaps have only widened for female sides as other countries in the region invested in the sector, leaving Palestine far behind neighbours Lebanon and Jordan. 

When the U-20 West Asian Football Federation Championship kicked off last week, not much was expected from Palestine. Jordan were seen as heavy favorites due to their home advantage and the absence of Lebanon, the only other side of note in the region. 

Palestine were expected to finish above Kuwait but behind Jordan and Syria in the four-team tournament. 

Preparation was anything but ideal with the team meeting only 48 hours before their first game. With football suspended throughout Palestine there was a heavy reliance on the diaspora to fill the gaps. Palestine’s squad featured players born in Sweden, Canada and the United States as well as professionals plying their trade in Chile and Egypt.

The tournament got off to the best possible start for Al-Fidai’yat, a 9-0 hammering of Kuwait set the stage, but a 3-0 loss to bitter rivals Jordan had the doubters circling the team. Many of the