Palestine’s Oday Kharoub celebrates with teammates after scoring their first goal against Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, on June 10. — Reuters
A LONG and engrossing qualifying journey of 16 games, while dealing with the obstacles of a war, came crashing down in an instant for Oday Dabbagh and his Palestinian team.
Their legacy will long continue.
Players left the field in tears in the immediate aftermath at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, on June 10 after their quest for a first appearance at a World Cup evaporated on a contentious penalty awarded deep in extra time. Fans looked on, stunned.
“It’s very hard,” said Dabbagh, the team’s star striker.
Palestinian players leave the field after an Asian Group B World Cup qualifying soccer match against Oman at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan on June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/John Duerden)
“It was massive for us to get to the next stage – we prepared well, we had a positive atmosphere, and we had the fans with us. We gave everything, but it was gone in a moment.”
Needing to win their last three Group B games to reach the playoffs for the last two of Asia’s automatic spots at the World Cup, the No. 101-ranked team in the world beat Iraq in Basra in March, Kuwait in Kuwait City on June 5. Five days later, they were leading 1-0 against Oman in Jordan in the 97th minute.
Palestinian fans living in Jordan came out in full force to watch the match. — AP
The Palestinians had never been in a better position in qualifying for a World Cup. Then Oman were awarded, and scored, a penalty to make it 1-1 in the last real act of the game.
Not long after the dejected players had picked themselves up, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) made an official complaint to football’s world governing body, FIFA, about the penalty. It didn’t change the fact, however, that the long road trip was over.
“We tried to put smiles on the faces of Palestinians amid their great pain,” head coach Ihab Abujazar said.
“The heroic players are our pride and glory, a symbol of all that is beautiful in the Palestinian nation.”
It may have been different if the Palestinian team, admitted into FIFA in 1998, were able to play home games in front of their fans in Gaza or the West Bank in the third round of qualifying.
The Israel-Hamas war meant that couldn’t happen. And so the many of the team’s home games have been taking place in the nearby Jordanian capital of Amman, home to a large community of Palestinians.
“It is easier to play in your home,” Dabbagh, who helped Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup last month, said.
“But the circumstances there are so difficult so we choose to play in Amman as it is close to Palestine, the people are the same, and we have a lot of fans there.”
There’s been no domestic football in the Palestinian territories since the war started in 2023. Hundreds of athletes are among the more than 55,000 Palestinians killed in the conflict and sports facilities have been destroyed.
“Everything that goes on makes us all sad,” Dabbagh said. “As players, we try to focus on football during the games, but we use what is happening as motivation to bring happiness to the people of Palestine.”
Oman’s Essam Al-Subhi celebrates after scoring the penalty to tie the score at 1-1. — Reuters
All but two of the roster of 27 national squad players are contracted to foreign clubs either in the region or in Europe, a change from the start of the conflict when a number of players weren’t able to leave the West Bank or Gaza to report for international duty.
Over the past year or so, the Palestinian squad have assembled for training camps in Algeria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to prepare for World Cup qualifying.
The top two teams in each of three Asian groups in the third round earned direct spots for next year’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The third and fourth-place teams in each group advanced to a playoff for two more places. A win would have secured fourth spot in the group for the Palestinians.
Palestine’s Wessam Ali tries to get past two Oman players. — Reuters
The last-minute draw meant they finished a point behind Oman in fifth.
Now their focus has to shift to the 2027 Asian Cup, which will take place in Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian team have already qualified for the tournament.
Dabbagh is ready to show that the team are set to remain a force in Asian football and continue to be ambassadors for millions of people.
“We will keep using football as a message to show the world that there are other things in Palestine” he said.
“We will keep going. The dream is not over, it is just delayed.” — AP
