For Palestine, road to World Cup begins with U20 team
Palestine will feel that qualification for the 2030 FIFA World Cup is a realistic goal, following narrow 2026 miss but work remains to be done
For most outside observers, Palestinian football has been on an incredible upward trajectory since May 30th, 2014. On a balmy evening in the Maldives just over twelve years ago, Palestine defeated Philippines 1-0 to qualify for their first ever AFC Asian Cup.
Al-Fida’i have qualified for all the continental showpieces since and proved at the last tournament in Qatar that they are part of a rising middle tier in Asian Football. Eighteen months removed from their first win and knockout appearance at an Asian Cup, Palestine nearly qualified for Round 4 of World Cup qualification only to be denied by that penalty.
At youth level, the story is very different. Palestine have never qualified to a U20 or U17 Asian Cup. The only success was the 2018 AFC U23 tournament in which an Oday Dabbagh powered Palestine advanced to the quarterfinals. Qualification for that tournament was buoyed by securing the group’s hosting rights and even then, Palestine needed an epic 3-2 comeback win against Jordan to rescue their chances.
Since then it has been failure after failure. This time might be different as the Palestine FA has realized the importance of youth teams for future planning. For all its faults, the local league in the West Bank and Gaza helped produce talent. There is no return planned for the league of Gaza and the return of football in the West Bank not guaranteed as the PFA has only announced that a cup competition will be organized as a test baloon.
Three years without club football has devasted a generation of footballers who, although not quite good enough for the national team, could still make a living playing the sport they love.
If there is to be a return of the West Bank Premier League, then it will likely be staffed by players under the age of 23 as a result of these forced retirements. That could have an unintended positive effect on the youth national teams.
Another element that could help the national team programs in general is the diaspora. On nearly every fan operated page on Instagram and Facebook there is tracking of eligible players abroad. Most now are lamenting the fact that Adam Daghim will most likely feature for Denmark. Few realize the mistake was years in the making- the PFA was slow to call up his brother Ahmed and really should have made an effort to pitch both on the idea of playing for Palestine.
In previous years, there was also a severe disconnect between youth national teams and the senior team although that seems to be changing. Khalid Abu El Haija has played at U19, U20, U23 and senior level. Ehab Abu Jazar has looked down the pyramid in order to renew the ranks of the national team as well.
Tough Qualifying Task
Palestine’s U20 team got their preparations for the U20 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers underway this week following an extended camp in Jericho. The team then traveled to Manama to face Bahrain in a triple header. In the first match, Palestine lost 1-0 but they emerged victorious in the second match 2-0, and are due to play again this Wednesday.
The squad plays its club football all over the world: Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Lebanon, Norway, Sweden, UAE, and the United States.
It was Germany based Jasin Abou Chaker and Denmark based Zaki Hamade that scored the goals in Palestine’s second game.
The team will need to gel quickly before the qualifying tournament begins on August 31st. Palestine competed well in qualifiers for the 2025 tournament losing by only a single goal to Australia and Saudi Arabia but failed to win a single game for the first time since 2018 qualifiers.
They will have no easy games this time around with Asian powerhouse Iran, North Korea, and hosts Vietnam awaiting them in the group stages. To qualify for the 16-team finals and potentially to the U20 World Cup Palestine will need to win the group or finish as one of the seven best runners up.