‘Losing three years set us back 20’: Palestinian football’s future in peril
Key takeaways
- The suspended Palestinian league is squeezing a generation of footballers, with little certainty for the future.
- The 23-year-old now spends his days on the sidelines of a series of football pitches adjacent to the Israeli police headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem.
- Winning, losing – football is beautiful, it’s life… we breathe football,” he told Al Jazeera. “For three years, there’s been no sporting activity at all.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The suspended Palestinian league is squeezing a generation of footballers, with little certainty for the future.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo The Eid tournament with several national team players at Sheikh Jarrah [Al Jazeera]By Al Jazeera Staff Published On 14 Jun 202614 Jun 2026Sheikh Jarrah, Occupied East Jerusalem — It’s nearly three years since Mahdi Hijazi last played a professional game of football, with the war on Gaza sinking the domestic Palestinian league into limbo.
The 23-year-old now spends his days on the sidelines of a series of football pitches adjacent to the Israeli police headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem. The area has faced rounds of evictions of Palestinian families by Israeli authorities over the years, to be replaced by Israeli settlers.