Huge disappointment for the Palestinian national football team: FIFA banned the Canaan Lions from playing on Algerian pitches. A new demonstration of the policy of double standards carried out by international authorities
FIFA (international football body) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in charge of organizing the twin qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup, quickly ended the hopes of Palestinians to play on Algerian pitches and benefit from the unconditional support of Algerian football fans .
The Canaan Lions led by Tunisian technician Makram Daboub will have to find a base in Asia, according to the decision of the two authorities in charge of the competition.
Based on the regulations of the competition, FIFA, through the AFC, informed the Palestinian Football Federation that it could not domicile its official matches elsewhere than on its continent of affiliation, namely Asia even though Israel is authorized to play… in Europe and is a member of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
A geographical affiliation that FIFA has however shattered for the 2030 World Cup since the matches will be played on three continents (Latin America, Europe, and Africa).
Speaking on the airwaves of Radio Algeria International (RAI), the president of the Palestinian Higher Council of Youth and Sports and president of the Palestinian Football Federation, Jibril Rajoub, expressed his wish to domicile the matches of the twin qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 Asian Cup of the Palestinian selection in Algeria.
“The AFC asked us to choose neutral territory, hence our choice for Algeria,” explained the Palestinian official.
The next day, Monday October 16, the highest Algerian authorities gave the green light, asking the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) to take charge of the requests of its Palestinian counterpart.
“An extension of the FLN”
In a press release , the FAF indicated that it would host in Algeria “all official and unofficial matches as part of the preparation of the Palestinian football selection for the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and the FIFA World Cup. Asia Nations 2027” and “would cover all costs related to these events”.
The Algerian Football Federation immediately announced the domicile in Algeria of the Palestine-Australia meeting on November 21, a match counting for the second day of group I (Palestine, Australia, Bangladesh, Lebanon ) of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
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“I reiterate my thanks to [Algerian] President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who represents the symbol of the unity of this great brother people, whose journey in the fight against colonialism has inspired other liberation movements around the world, including including the Fatah movement and the Palestinian revolution. We consider ourselves an extension of the National Liberation Front [ FLN ] and the Algerian people,” greeted Jibril Rajoub.
Beyond benefiting from the sports infrastructure and the fervor of Algerian supporters, unconditional support for the Palestinian selections – even when they play against the Greens ! –, Jibril Rajoub could not ignore the regulatory provisions of the competition.
Just as he could not ignore that the long journeys from Australia and Bangladesh to reach Algeria would constitute a major handicap to his approach.
But such a request was also intended to refocus the debate on eminently more important and nobler questions. Mainly that of the place of the Palestinian question at the level of international sporting bodies.
In the eyes of the Palestinians, the veto opposed by FIFA and the AFC indirectly designates UEFA. Asian regulations appear more restrictive than those enjoyed by Israel at the UEFA level, since its selection competes in the World Cup qualifiers in the Europe zone and its clubs take part in European competitions including the prestigious Champions League of the UEFA. In addition, teams founded in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank are also eligible for these competitions.
The European confederation had also quickly excluded Russia, as well as Russian clubs, from its competitions before demanding and imposing on FIFA its exclusion from the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, from the start of hostilities with the ‘ Ukraine .
But since the start of the Israeli response to the Hamas attack on October 7, neither the thousands of civilian deaths, nor the systematic destruction of the Gaza Strip , nor the looming humanitarian crisis have caused UEFA to react. , chaired by Slovenian Aleksander Čeferin.
Just cause
Positions which unfortunately have not evolved much over the decades.
How can we not think of the major role of the ALN (National Liberation Army) team and its heir, the glorious FLN (National Liberation Front) team, especially when the Palestinian leader refers to the Algerian liberation struggle ?
Made up of professional players with promising careers (Mustapha Zitouni, Abdelaziz Bentifour, Rachid Mekhloufi, Kaddour Bekhloufi, etc.), who had abandoned everything (their family, their material comfort, etc.) to carry the message of the Algerian cause and its struggle for independence, the FLN team (also called the “freedom team”) was declared illegal by FIFA.
Pressed by colonial France , the Zurich body had tried from the beginning of 1958 to put an end to this formidable epic, which over the years had become a classic of sports diplomacy. FIFA had even threatened to suspend all teams that opened their stadiums to it and agreed to play against it.
However, the message carried by this team and the outpouring of solidarity from “friendly” countries in favor of a just cause ended up winning.
Let us wish the same success to the Palestinian selection, whose federation was founded in 1928.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policies of Middle East Eye.
