The sport of football in the country of Palestine is run by the

Palestinian Football Association The Palestinian Football Association ( ar, الاتحاد الفلسطيني لكرة القدم) is the governing body for football in Palestine, and for the men's Palestine national football team and the Palestine women's national football te ...

. The association administers the national football team as well as the

West Bank Premier League The 2010–11 season marked the creation of the first professional league in the territories and saw high-profile signings for many clubs. Most notably Fadi Lafi (Hilal Al-Quds), Hernán Madrid (Wadi Al-Nes), and many Arab citizens of Israel wh ...

. They are members of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

. Women's football is popular also in Palestine. The opening match of the Palestine Women's National Football League on February 10, 2011, in the Feisal al-Husseini Stadium was attended by an estimated 8,000 people. The Women's league has six teams. Football is the most popular sport in Palestine. Honey Thaljieh is a pioneer in women's football

History

The game was originally introduced during the time of the British Mandate. Palestine has one of the oldest histories of organized football in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

with evidence of the game being played at an organized level amongst Palestinians youths since at least the early 1920s. Some notable clubs during the early years of Palestinian football were Shabab Al Arab of Haifa, the Orthodox Club of Jerusalem, and Islami Yaffa. During these years, Palestinian stars, such as

Jabra Al-Zarqa Jabra may refer to: * Jabra (brand), electronics company in Denmark * Jabra Ibrahim Jabra (1919–1994), Palestinian author *Jabra Nicola (1912–1974), Arab Israeli and Palestinian Trotskyist leader * Jabra, Khartoum, one of the neighbourhoods ...

, George Mardeni, and Majed Assad represented an excellence that was second to none. Jabra Al-Zarqa received an offer to play for Arsenal FC while playing in the British Army's Haifa League in 1945. The Eretz Israel Football Association was formed in 1928 and joined FIFA in 1929. It is associated with the

Israeli Football Association The Israel Football Association (IFA; he, ההתאחדות לכדורגל בישראל, ''HaHit'aḥdut leKaduregel beIsrael'', literally "The Association of Football in Israel") is the governing body of football in Israel. It organizes a variet ...

. At the time the association was made up of Arab clubs, Jewish clubs and clubs representing British policemen and soldiers serving in the region during the British Mandate rule that spanned the period between World War One and the independence of the state of Israel in 1948. The qualification matches for the 1934 and 1938 World Cups were contested by a Mandatory Palestine national football team made up exclusively of Jewish players. Palestine applied to, and was admitted into FIFA in 1998. They played their first

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es against

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in July 1998. The following year, the team, led by Palestinian-Israeli coach Azmi Nasser took part in the

1999 Pan Arab Games The 1999 Pan Arab Games were ninth edition of the multi-sport event between Arab countries and were held from August 15 to August 31. A total of around 4600 athletes from 21 countries participated in the 29 sports on offer. The opening ceremony tha ...

, in which they won the bronze medal after beating

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, while only losing to hosts

Palestine football stadiums

References

{{Asia in topic, Football in