The team Palestine has never taken part in World Cup. However, the presence of the territory was seen in Qatar in 2022. Supporters interrupted the press shouting ‘free Palestine’ as some players from Morocco held up the country’s flag following their historic quarter-final win in the game against Portugal, making them the first Arab and African team to make it to the semi-finals.

The conflict between Israel-Palestine has been a source of tension for a long time in the Middle East since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and it became worse after the capture of Israel of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 1967. Since its creation by the State of Israel in Nakba- the Independence of Israel, clashes have become frequent.

In Arabic, Nakba means catastrophe, evoking a period that saw almost 700,000 Palestinians flee and be compelled to leave their homeland in what became Israel. Rami Hamadeh, the goalkeeper of the Palestinian team said the Israeli occupation does not affect him but it surely affects the sports of the country in general. He also said that if it is players being killed or arrested. Irrespective of these restrictions, they were able to obtain their goals and play well. This shows that in their AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualification.

Ahmed Daraghmeh is one such player. The official of Palestine said that Daraghmen, a local footballer from Tubas, the city near Nablus, had been shot dead by IDF in 2022. The militant group running Gaza, Hamas, later claimed him as a member. The athletes of the country have been arrested in the past, too. Footballer Mahmoud Sarsak had been detained by the Israeli authorities in 2009 under the policy of illegal combatants.