Palestinian clubs have returned to organised competition after a suspension lasting about 3 years, with more than 200 clubs taking part in matches held in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The return came through the Thousand Martyrs Cup, named for the 1014 athletes killed since October 2023, amid continuing movement restrictions and extensive damage to sports facilities.
The first match brings spectators back to the stands
At Al-Khader Stadium, families, young people and children gathered to watch the match between Arab Orthodox Beit Jala and Dheisheh Youth Centre. Under the floodlights, the two teams traded attacks and chances as supporters’ chants and objections to the referee’s decisions rang out.
The match marked the Palestinian clubs’ first participation in an organised competition since the lengthy suspension. During the half-time break, a disturbance broke out behind the stadium, prompting some spectators to stand and follow what was happening. The scene alarmed Cesar Saras, the 20-year-old Beit Jala player, who said he felt frightened when he saw the crowd get up and thought the Israeli army had arrived, because he had repeatedly heard about tear gas being fired at stadiums, although he had not witnessed it himself.
The disturbance, however, was caused by a dispute between some supporters, not a military raid, and the crowd returned to its seats as the match resumed. For 15-year-old Rimas Sarhan, who comes from Aida refugee camp, the evening offered a measure of ordinary life.
War brought Palestinian football to a halt
The Aida Sports Academy and Palestine age-group national team player said the event made them feel they had some of the normal life enjoyed by people elsewhere, describing the full stands as a very beautiful feeling. Palestinian football came to a halt when war broke out in Gaza and attacks escalated in the West Bank in October 2023.
Firas Abu Hilal, secretary general of the Palestinian Football Association, said the Israeli occupation had prevented the game from being played through checkpoints, movement restrictions and attacks on facilities, as well as the detention of players and administrators. Abu Hilal added that 90% of stadiums in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed, while other sports facilities had been turned into sites where tents were erected to shelter displaced families.
He described the return as a message asserting the Palestinians’ right to life, saying: “We have returned because we want to prove to the whole world that we are a people who should live.” The years of suspension had a direct impact on a generation of young players. Saras said all the players had grown up at once during a period that should have represented the peak of their development, adding that those years had passed without them experiencing life as athletes, amid the absence of a league championship and regular competition opportunities.
Hundreds of athletes were killed during the war, including Palestine national team striker Suleiman Al-Obeid, who was killed while waiting for aid in Gaza in 2025. Olympic team coach Hani Al-Masdar was also killed in 2024.
Travel restrictions threaten the continuity of the Martyrs Cup
The new competition is called the Thousand Martyrs Cup in tribute to the 1014 athletes killed since the war and escalation in the West Bank began. The resumption of matches does not mean the factors that disrupted sporting activity have ended. In the West Bank, the Palestinian association reorganised the teams into groups based on geographical proximity, with the aim of reducing the need to travel long distances.
Even so, teams’ ability to reach stadiums remains tied to checkpoints and military gates that can disrupt matches. Abu Hilal said every village and city had a military iron gate at its entrance, and that closing it could prevent a team from reaching its match.
He said such obstacles could force matches to be postponed, but would not lead to their cancellation, stressing that the matches had to be played and the players had to continue playing. Alongside restrictions linked to movement and the security situation, clubs and players face major financial pressures.
Financial crisis disrupts the careers of players and clubs
Some clubs have been unable to pay their players’ wages, prompting a number of professionals to return as amateurs. Many athletes have also struggled to revive their careers after nearly 3 years without championships or regular competition. Mohammed Al-Zughairi, a Dheisheh Youth Centre player and coach at a local football academy, said some athletes’ careers had ended during the suspension.
He added that he might not have been able to return to playing had he not continued maintaining his fitness through his work at the academy and kept training. Al-Zughairi’s career had faced obstacles years before the latest suspension. He spent 8 and a half years in Israeli prisons, moving between several detention centres.
In 2015, soldiers shot him twice in the leg, shattering one of its bones and keeping him away from the pitch for 2 years. Al-Zughairi said he had given up before eventually returning to training. He stressed that giving up was no longer an option for him, adding: “We want to resist, we want to live and we want to hold on to hope.”
The resumed matches are being played across Palestine on pitches, some of which have come under attack during the past 3 years. The Palestinian Football Association says Israeli attacks have damaged or destroyed 265 sports facilities in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The association described the targeting and destruction of sports infrastructure as “sports genocide”.
The risks facing football facilities extend to the West Bank. In Aida refugee camp in the city of Bethlehem, the Aida Sports Academy holds its training sessions next to the Israeli separation wall, which is surrounded by watchtowers. Camp residents say the area is subject to repeated military raids, affecting players and their training.
A 20-year-old player who used the name Karim and asked for his real name to be withheld to avoid problems at checkpoints said these conditions affected players’ psychological state. Karim is preparing to take part in the Thousand Martyrs Cup, while the pitch where he trains faces the threat of demolition under an Israeli order issued in late 2025.
The academy pitch’s demolition order was frozen following an international campaign involving football bodies, including the Fédération Internationale de Football Association “FIFA” and the Union of European Football Associations “UEFA”. However, Aida Youth Centre said it had received no official confirmation that the threat facing the pitch had ended. Karim described the pitch as a space where players could breathe, and said the demolition order had been shocking because they had never imagined the place would face such a fate.
The pitch is one of the few open spaces inside the crowded camp. It also provides children with a place to run and play, and has become a place where girls play football. Among the players is 15-year-old Fatima Lutfi, who trains with Aida Academy. She said she had broken the rule claiming that football was not for girls, referring to the space the pitch had provided for them to play the game inside the camp.
The Palestinian Football Association said it would continue organising competitions despite financial constraints, travel difficulties and the risks facing pitches. Abu Hilal said the Thousand Martyrs Cup would become an annual competition, ensuring its continuation after the current edition rather than limiting it to a temporary resumption of sporting activity.
At Al-Khader Stadium, Saras linked football’s continuation to the players’ ability to hold on to their dreams and a source of hope.
He said there were people whose lives depended on achieving a dream that gave them hope, adding that Palestinian players had been deprived of that during the years of suspension, but they were still here, and “we are not just a number”.
