Football, war and solidarity: Why Gaza fans turned to Spain this World Cup
Key takeaways
- Football fans in Gaza showed overwhelming support for Spain against Saudi Arabia during Sunday’s World Cup clash.
- The crowd let out a scream as 18-year-old Lamine Yamal opened the scoring for Spain in the tenth minute.
- Saudi Arabia may share close ties with the Palestinians, but passion for the Spanish football team is long standing in Gaza.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Football fans in Gaza showed overwhelming support for Spain against Saudi Arabia during Sunday’s World Cup clash.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Hani Abu Rizq wished for a Saudi win, but expressed his appreciation for Spain’s position in support of Palestine, particularly Lamine Yamal’s gesture of raising the Palestinian flag [Abdelhakim Abu Riash /Al Jazeera]By Maram Humaid Published On 22 Jun 202622 Jun 2026Gaza City — At a busy cafe in Gaza City, football fans gathered around a small screen, perched against an idle projector screen, to watch Sunday night’s crunch World Cup match between Spain and Saudi Arabia.
The crowd let out a scream as 18-year-old Lamine Yamal opened the scoring for Spain in the tenth minute. Three more Spanish goals followed in the next 35 minutes, securing a comfortable win for the European football powerhouse, to the delight of the patrons of the makeshift Gaza cafe.