Palestine Football with a Home of Its Own
The blog Soccer News Brief has reported that after 10 years of international eligibility, Palestine will play its first international match in Palestine. In the past, Palestine has played its home matches in Jordan and Qatar.
The new stadium, located in Gaza city, will host its first action against Jordan on the 26th of October. This has the potential to boost not only revenue but also morale in the downtrodden region of Gaza.
Despite this good news, there are still issues for the Palestinian national team. With many players hailing from Gaza, Israel’s travel restrictions have affected the team. Palestine was unable to play in a qualifier match in Singapore because Israel only allows urgent cases to leave Gaza.
Israel could go a long way towards building goodwill in the community if they were to allow Palestine free travel to compete in what is truly the world’s sport.
Gavin Yerxa
