The Palestine football team played for the first time in Europe on Saturday, in a friendly match in the Basque Country, Spain, in a match filled with tributes to the thousands of victims of the war in Gaza. The match ended 3-0 for the local team, the Basque team, which is not officially recognised by FIFA nor UEFA and can therefore only play friendly matches like this (which happened to take place the same day the Spanish national team played a World Cup qualifying match with Georgia -coincidentally, with three goals scored by Basque players, Martín Zubimendi and Mikel Oyarzabal).
Before the match, the 51,396 spectators in San Mamés, Athletic Club stadium in Bilbao, created a giant mosaic with both flags, Basque and Palestine, and a minute of silence was held for all the victims in Palestine under the Israel army, after and before October 2023. The match was then dominated by the local team, with goals by Gorka Guruzeta, Urko Iruretagoiena from Athletic, and Unai Elgezabal from Levante, all players from Spain's first division.
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Palestine's coach, Ehab Abu Jazar, who was born in Gaza and whose family lives in a refugee camp as his house was destroyed, thanked the Basque Country for making them feel like home. "For us, the Basque Country isn't just our second home, it's our home. The minute of silence was very difficult because we remembered the suffering of the Palestinian people. On the pitch, there was no lack of affection and solidarity at any moment." He admitted it was the first time he cried with the Palestinian chant.
In the sporting side, he admits their players are not in their best shape due to lack of training, but will learn from the match before upcoming matches against the Catalan national team on Tuesday, and the Lybian national team. The Palestine football team came closer than ever to qualify for World Cup 2026. The team recently relocated to Chile, with the largest Palestinian population outside of the Arab world (nearly half a million people in a country with 20 million people).