As an outsider at the Asian Cup
Palestine’s footballers suffer from cell phones in Qatar
January 10, 2024, 6:45 p.m
Football as a distraction in difficult times: This is the goal with which the Palestine national team is competing at the Asian Cup in Qatar. The players are very worried about their homeland and are partly directly affected by the war in the Gaza Strip. Coach Makram Dahoub speaks of constant fear.
The first thing the Palestine national players look at is their cell phone, even in faraway Qatar. “Before training, after training, on the bus or in the hotel – everyone is constantly watching the news,” says national coach Makram Daboub about his difficult mission. At the weekend, Palestine’s footballers start the Asian Cup as clear outsiders, but every player’s head is at home around the clock.
Because the messages on the cell phone are not good. Just this weekend, Hani Al-Masdar, former coach of Palestine’s Olympic team, was killed by shrapnel in the Gaza Strip. The images from the heavily damaged Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City, which is currently used as an internment camp by the Israeli army, are also disturbing.
His players lived in a “constant feeling of fear for their families,” Tunisian Daboub told the AFP news agency before the start of the tournament. He doesn’t know exactly how his team should concentrate on football. But somehow it works: at the dress rehearsal on Tuesday, the number 99 in the FIFA world rankings at least managed a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia in Doha. Things get serious on Sunday when the Asian Championship opens against three-time title holders Iran.
“A reaffirmation of Palestinian identity”
However, the preparation was massively affected by the conflict, which has claimed countless victims since the Palestinian Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023. League operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been suspended since then, participation in a tournament in Malaysia was canceled at short notice, the World Cup qualifier against Australia in November (0-1) took place in Kuwait, and the training camps took place in Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
“My players are suffering,” says Daboub, whose team is largely made up of players from the diaspora. The players come from Chile, Indonesia, Sweden, Belgium, Thailand, Egypt and India and are united by one big goal: at the third Asian Championship they should finally achieve their first victory; other opponents in the group are the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
And: Football should at least provide a little variety – both at home and within the team. Players like Mahmoud Wadi and Muhammad Saleh were directly affected by the conflict, said Daboub: “They are professionals in Egypt, but their families are in Gaza and their houses were destroyed,” and some of their relatives were “killed or expelled.” Relatives of other players also had to flee.
But his team has actually already won, says Daboub. Just “raising the Palestinian flag” at international competitions is important, he emphasized. This is “a confirmation of Palestinian identity” and makes it clear that the people there “deserve freedom and a better life.”