Palestine at 25: A quarter century of the modern national team

25 years ago today, Palestine played its first FIFA recognized match- a 3-1 loss to Lebanon. In spite of the loss, that match would go on to change Palestinian sport forever.

July 20th, 1998. Beirut. Arab Cup Qualification. Palestine’s first fully recognized international. Except- that is not quite the entire story.

There is not a single Arab nation on the Asian continent with a football history as robust as Palestine’s. The wait to join FIFA and compete in real matches was a long and arduous one. Influenced by politics and …