July 11th, 2023: This Week in Palestinian Football

U23 Team bids adieu to the Pan Arab Games but what does the future hold for Palestinian footballers born after 2001?

First things first- allow me to apologize for the delay in getting this week’s newsletter out. A series of unfortunate events and a cancelled flight got in the way of my initial plans.

As for what happened this week let’s start off with some transfer news:

Saleh Chihadeh on the move, Rami Hamadi stays put

Two national team players have signed new contracts. It looked like Rami Hamadi would make the move to a foreign league in this transfer window but the goalkeeper has decided to renew his contract with Jabal Al-Mukaber on improved terms.

The Shefa-’Amr native will still be well positioned to make his much anticipated move abroad with a good showing at January’s Asian Cup.

In other news, Saleh Chihadeh is no longer in amateur football. A bizarre contractual dispute with Future FC in Egypt saw him leave the club and play football with his former club- FC Naters who are in Switzerland’s fourth division.

The striker was frozen out of the team after playing a handful of minutes weeks after signing a three and a half year contract at the Egyptian club. The player can and should be playing at least one division higher, but returning to a league where he scored 20 goals and registered three assists in 29 games in 2017/18 nearly guarantees a fast adaptation process.

Chihadeh will suit up for Rapperswil-Jona FC who reached the promotion playoff last year and will be looking to secure direct promotion to the Swiss Challenge League this year powered by Chihadeh’s goal scoring nous.

What next for the Olympic Team?