Receive news, analysis, and other content straight to your inbox by subscribing to Football Palestine (free or paid), here.
In a surprise announcement, Palestine FA President Jibril Rajoub announced on Wednesday that football will be returning to the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium from the start of Round Three of AFC World Cup qualification.
Al-Fida’i has qualified for the Third Round for the first time on the back of an ironclad defence that conceded just a single goal from five World Cup qualifiers. A pair of wins over Bangladesh and two draws vs Lebanon was enough to see Palestine through.
Makram Daboub, facing an injury crisis, elected to reshuffle his line up in the final game on Tuesday in Perth which ended in a 5-0 win to Australia.
In a meandering one hour long press conference Jibril Rajoub thanked FIFA President Gianni Infantino for his support and mentioned that he attended the game against Lebanon on June 6th “to send a message to our supporters and our enemies.”
“The first game will be played on September 5th, in Jerusalem and President Infantino said he wants to attend” Rajoub stated matter-of-factly in the conference’s first five minutes.
There was no explanation as to how this would happen given the ongoing war on Gaza and with Israel conducting a war on the northern front with Lebanon. There is also the small matter of the draw with Iran and Kuwait refusing to play in Palestine as to not normalize the occupation. The other eight West Asian nations are likely to also take a similar position given the anger of the general public towards events of the last nine months.
This seems something of an aspiration rather than a confirmation by Jibril Rajoub who has a history of outlandish and bombastic statements.
