Palestine U20 team to camp in Qatar ahead of 2027 qualifiers
A pair of friendlies will serve as preparation for a qualifying group that Includes IR Iran, DPR Korea, and hosts Vietnam
Palestine’s U20 team kicked off its preparation for the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers with a triple header against Bahrain earlier this month. Those matches featured a 1-0 loss, a 2-0 win, and a 3-2 reverse.
The results were promising in so much that they helped uncover new talents that had joined from clubs in Europe, the United States, South America, and the Arab World.
There has been a concerted effort to tap into the diaspora to help cover the gaps at home. The Palestinian leagues have not been active since October 7th, 2023. The problem with forming a team made up of diaspora talent is that they have nearly no time to gel.
The manager, Sajed Karakra, a former youth international for Palestine before hanging up his boots in 2015 to focus on coaching, is fully aware of the importance of preparation having fallen short two years ago.
A pair of friendlies in Doha against Saudi Arabia on August 17th and Qatar four days later will precede the long flight to Vietnam. Palestine will face off against the hosts two sides who were at the 2025 finals in Korea DPR and IR Iran. The latter will have a new manager and a completely different set of players while Korea DPR can count on five holdovers from two years ago.
Palestine played admirably against the top sides in its group in the 2025 qualifiers losing 1-0 to Saudi Arabia and 2-1 to Australia. They disappointed against teams that bunkered against them, drawing 1-1 vs. Macau and 0-0 vs. Afghanistan. As luck would have it, Saudi Arabia and Australia not only qualified from the group, but contested the final.
This year, the qualification group should be easier but a disastrous last placed finish could see the team relegated to the newly created developmental phase for the 2029 cycle.
Should this promising generation qualify for the first U20 Asian Cup in Palestine’s history they could play a part in helping the senior team reach new heights in the 2030/31 cycle.