As FIFA again delays review of calls to suspend Israel, Gaza’s football scene is left in tatters

Twice per week, Palestinian footballer Ahmed Al-Jarro passes the ruins of Khan Younis Youth Stadium on his way to receive treatment from a nearby hospital, the levelled site a grim reminder that, even as calls mount for FIFA to ban Israel from the competition, its war in Gaza has already crushed an entire generation’s football ambitions.

Before the war, the Khan Younis Youth Stadium was a bustling hub of young Palestinians with big dreams of becoming pro footballers.

Ahmed described it as a sports landmark in the Gaza strip, and the site of his most cherished memories. Today it’s a grisly make-shift shelter for the displaced. The once lively pitch is crowded with tents of Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment.

The 29-year-old is a starting goalkeeper for Al-Shuja'iyya Sports Club and his club is one of dozens in Gaza that have had their players killed or badly maimed by the war and their facilities reduced to rubble.

For young Gazans, football was once a rare bright spot in the besieged enclave. Now many wonder if the beautiful game will ever return. 

"The war has swept away all the beautiful memories and wonderful sporting events we had. It’s destroyed my future and my ambitions of joining the Palestinian national team,” Ahmed tells The New Arab. 

In March, an Israeli missile tore through the family home that Ahmed was staying at in Rafah. 

Luckily, the missile didn’t explode, but the force of its impact collapsed the ceiling, killing his six-year-old nephew. The fallout left lacerations and tears in the tendons of Ahmed’s toes, an instant blow to his football dreams. 

“The fate of my feet is uncertain,” he said despondently. Doctors tell him that he may never be able to play football again. 

Palestine's top athletes killed 

There are no precise statistics on just how badly Gaza’s sporting scene has been decimated by a war that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and displaced most of its 2.3 million residents.

Asaad Majdalawi, the Vice President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, estimates that about 400 Palestinians – including players, coaches and administrators – have been killed, and another 1,200 severely injured, many of them so badly they will likely never play a sport again.

Scores of athletes have been bombed while in their homes and have yet to receive proper medical care, he said.

“Right now the focus is on survival rather than treating injuries,” said Asaad. “Those who survive are considered the winners.”

Many of Palestine’s top athletes have already been killed. The list includes national football team star Muhammed Barakat, Olympic football coach Hani Al-Masdar, karate champion Nagham Abu Samra, and national team athletics coach Bilal Abu Simaan.

FIFA, the global governing body for football, has faced growing calls to ban Israel’s teams from competition. The Palestinian Football Association as well as pro-Palestine activists have tried to drum up support for the move. They point out that FIFA and its European counterpart UEFA suspended Russian teams from competitions after the country invaded Ukraine. 

FIFA ordered an urgent legal evaluation but said it would delay making a decision on the matter until after the Paris Olympics.

“Palestinian officials have made extensive efforts to expose the occupation’s narrative and hold all international bodies accountable, like the Olympic Committee, FIFA, and other global sports federations,” said Asaad.

“But there hasn’t been any real response on the ground,” he continued. “This is a world that is unjust, with international institutions that are negligent.'"

Holding out hope for a return to football

Many Palestinian footballers are trying to make it back to the pitch, even under impossible circumstances. One such example is Moath Eid. Before the war, Moath split his time between working at a local restaurant serving fava beans and falafel, and playing central defender for Al-Maghazi Youth Club. 

His football ambitions suffered a bruising hit last October when an Israeli airstrike attacked the Al-Bureij refugee camp just as he was walking next to it. The bombing shattered the bones in his toes and tore apart the ligaments.

Moath spent more than two months in hospital getting treatment, where doctors inserted plates into his mangled feet. 

Deepening his tragedy, an Israeli airstrike later hit his family’s home on July 7, killing his parents. Despite all of that, Moath is keeping up hope that he can one day return to football.

“The war stole my mother and father and severely injured my body, but I’m still driven by an ambition to excel in football,” he tells The New Arab.

These days Moath spends most of his time in a tent, nursing his injured feet. Since leaving the hospital he gets around slowly, on crutches. But he hopes to gradually get back on his feet, and eventually return to football.

“We are indeed in a time of genocide, and I might end up like my parents, but as long as I’m alive I’m going to dream of making a name for myself within the sports clubs and eventually joining the national team,” he added.

'My past, present, and future have all been lost in this dirty war'

Sports facilities have been so thoroughly wiped out by Israeli strikes that it’s difficult to assess exactly what’s left.

By Asaad’s count, eight football stadiums have been bombed out and completely destroyed, in addition to countless other sporting offices and facilities across the Strip.

A few other stadiums have been converted to shelters, and the Rafah Municipal Stadium was made into a 150-bed field hospital by the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier in the war, reports emerged that Israel’s military was using Gaza’s Yarmouk stadium, one of its largest arenas, as a mass detention centre, with detainees that included young boys stripped down to their underwear. Today it’s yet another ill-equipped shelter for the displaced.

“Some sports facilities were turned into detention, interrogation and torture centres by the Israeli army before being completely destroyed during their invasion of the Gaza Strip,” Asaad said. 

“The sight of destroyed stadiums converted into shelters is a very harsh, heart-breaking reality,” said Ahmed.

“The memories that were made in those stadiums — the applause from the crowds, the victories, the tension, and anxiety — they were the happiest moments of my life,” he added.

 "My past, present, and future have all been lost in this dirty war. Now, I only think about surviving with my family,” he concluded.

Mohamed Solaimane is a Gaza-based journalist with bylines in regional and international outlets, focusing on humanitarian and environmental issues

This piece was published in collaboration with Egab