Palestine has confirmed qualification for the FIFA Arab Cup, after beating Libya in the qualifying round: the match ended 0-0 and Palestine won 4-3 in the penalties. This means that Palestine is one of the 16 countries qualified for the competition, and will play their opening match against hosts Qatar on December 2.
"We are different from other teams. They play to compete, but we play for two goals: to send messages through football and to develop Palestinian football and bring joy to our people", said Palestinian coach Ihab Abu Jazar, who highlighted that they came close of qualifying for the World Cup playoff.
The coach said that Libya (finalists of the 2012 edition of the Arab Cup) are strong and "our circumstances and absences made it harder, but we are proud. Football is one of the few things that can bring happiness to Palestinians" (via ChannelNewsAsia).
Palestine played friendly matches in Spain and it helped to succeed in the qualifying match
The Palestinian team recently played friendly matches in Spain against the Basque and Catalan teams, that helped them regain strength before the most important competition in the Arab world. 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).
The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup will take place in Qatar between 1 and 18 December 2025. It's held every four years, and Algeria won the last edition in 2021. Palestine has played their on five occasions, never going beyond the group stage.