Palestine national football team

Palestine
Nickname(s) الفدائيون (The Fedayeen)
الفرسان (The Knights)
أسود كنعان (Lions of Canaan)
Association Palestinian Football Association
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach Abdel Nasser Barakat
Captain Abdelatif Bahdari
Most caps Ramzi Saleh (68) [1]
Top scorer Fahed Attal (14)[2]
Home stadium Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium
FIFA code PLE
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 94 Increase 22 (6 July 2017)
Highest 85 (July 2014)
Lowest 191 (April–August 1999)
Elo ranking
Current 118 Steady (7 May 2017)
Highest 118 (Spring 2016)
Lowest 159 (October 2011)
First international
 Egypt 8–1 Palestine State of Palestine
(Alexandria, Egypt; 26 July 1953)
Biggest win
State of Palestine Palestine 11–0 Guam 
(Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1 April 2006)
Biggest defeat
 Egypt 8–1 Palestine State of Palestine
(Alexandria, Egypt; 26 July 1953)
 Iran 7–0 Palestine State of Palestine
(Tehran, Iran; 5 October 2011)
Asian Cup
Appearances 1 (first in 2015)
Best result Group stage, 2015

The Palestine national football team (Arabic: منتخب فلسطين لكرة القدم‎‎) is the national football team of Palestinian National Authority and represents the Authority in international football.[3]

A football federation in Mandatory Palestine was founded in 1928; However, a team for a future Arab state to be called Palestine was first recognized by FIFA in 1998, after the creation of the Palestinian National Authority. Palestine has yet to qualify for the World Cup. They first qualified for the Asian Cup in May 2014, after beating the Philippines 1–0 in the AFC Challenge Cup final. At the finals in Australia, they were eliminated in the group stage.

The team reached an all-time high position of 85th in the FIFA ranking in July 2014 after winning the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. Following their recognition by FIFA, the team played no official fixtures in the Palestinian territories due to security concerns until a match on 26 October 2008 against Jordan in the newly renovated Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in Al-Ram north of Jerusalem, which finished in a 1–1 draw.[4] In recognition of their efforts the Palestinian Football Federation was awarded FIFA's inaugural Development Award and AFC National Team of the Year.[5]

History

Palestine applied to, and was admitted into FIFA in 1998. They played their first friendly matches against Lebanon, Jordan and Syria in July 1998. The following year, the team, led by Israeli-Arab coach Azmi Nasser took part in the 1999 Pan Arab Games, in which they won the bronze medal after beating Syria, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, while only losing to hosts Jordan.

Palestine's first attempt to qualify for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup were unsuccessful, but saw victories against Hong Kong and Malaysia.

In 2002, the PFA hired Nicola Hadwa Shahwan as manager. Shahwan, who was born in Beit Jala, grew up in Chile and had many connections among Santiago's Palestinian community, whence he brought Roberto Bishara, Roberto Kettlun, Edgardo Abdala, Francisco Atura and the Argentine-born Pablo Abdala into the squad. These players made their debuts in the 2002 Arab Nations Cup. The team exited in the group stage but managed draws against group winners Jordan, hosts Kuwait, and Sudan, with their only loss coming against eventual semi-finalists Morocco.

In 2004, two more Latin Americans joined the Palestinian national team Hernán Madrid and the Argentine-born Alejandro Naif.

After an unsuccessful Asian Cup qualifying campaign, the PFA hired Austrian coach Alfred Riedl to lead the team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifications. Palestine were drawn in a group alongside Uzbekistan, Iraq and Chinese Taipei. In their first match, Palestine recorded an historic 8–0 win against the Taiwanese; two months later a 1–1 draw against Iraq put Palestine in first place in the group. Palestine were drawn in a group in Asian Cup qualifying for the 2007 tournament alongside 2004 finalists China, eventual winners Iraq, and Singapore. Palestine still had a chance of qualifying until the penultimate round, after a 1–0 win against Singapore and a 2–2 draw against Iraq. Palestine was invited to participate in the inaugural Challenge Cup in Bangladesh, where they beat Guam 11–0, Cambodia 4–0 and drew with Bangladesh to top their group and reach the quarterfinal, where they were beaten 1–0 by Kyrgyzstan. In the summer of 2006, Palestine achieved its highest ever FIFA ranking at 115, placing them 16th in the Asian continent. The team remained without a manager for most of 2007 and preparations for World Cup Qualifying were severely lacking. Palestine lost the first leg of a two-legged play-off against Singapore 0–4 and could not play the return leg as a result of Israeli travel restrictions.

In 2008, with the assistance of FIFA's Goal program, Jibril Rajoub, head of the PFA had the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium built, and on 26 October 2008 Palestine held a match on home soil for the first time since becoming a member of FIFA, a 1–1 draw with Jordan in front of a crowd in excess of 7,000.[4] Palestine received the inaugural FIFA Development Award in recognition of the achievement.[5]

Two and a half years later, in March 2011, Palestine played its first ever competitive home game. The game, at the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, was the second leg of a qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games, against Thailand. Thailand had won the first leg 1–0 in Bangkok; Palestine won the second 1–0 with a goal by Abdelhamid Abuhabib in the 43rd minute. The draw on aggregate led to a penalty shootout, where Palestine lost by 5–6.[6] However, as Thailand was ordered to forfeit the first match because of fielding an ineligible player,[7] Palestine replaced Thailand to play Bahrain next. In the next round against Bahrain, although Palestine won the first leg at Bahrain National Stadium by 1–0,[8] they lost the return leg by 1–2[9] and eliminated by away goals rule.[10]

The team beat Afghanistan 3–1 on aggregate (2–0 away, 1–1 home) in the first round of AFC qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. They faced Thailand in the second round, with an away match on 23 July 2011 in Buriram, and a home match on 28 July at Al-Ram. Palestine lost the away leg 1–0, with back-up goalkeeper Mohammed Shbair saving a penalty in the dying moments of the match to keep the tie alive. Palestine took a 1–0 lead in the 6th minute of the return leg through a Murad Alyan goal but conceded 10 minutes before halftime, meaning they would have to win by two clear goals in order to advance. Palestine took a 2–1 lead late in the second half but had a man sent off and conceded a goal whilst desperately searching for a winner. They were eliminated from AFC qualification on an aggregate score of 2–3, if the Asian Football Confederation elects to keep the same qualifying format for the 2018 FIFA World Cup they will be ranked 21st and receive a 1st round bye.

The PFA elected not to renew Moussa Bezaz's contract after the team failed to advance to the Third Round of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Former Al-Wehdat player and manager Jamal Mahmoud was announced as the national team manager in November 2011 after two disastrous friendlies without a permanent manager saw the team lose 4–1 and 7–0 to Indonesia and Iran, respectively. His first official match was a friendly against Bahrain in Manama which Palestine won 1–0 courtesy of Ali El-Khatib's first international goal. Palestine lost its first game at the 2011 Pan Arab Games to Jordan but recovered well in their following group games. Earning a well-deserved 1–1 draw and a 2–0 win over 2012 African Cup of Nations finalists Libya and Sudan to advance to the semifinals of the competition. The team eventually exited the competition against eventual champions Bahrain under dubious circumstances when the Bahrainis were awarded a phantom goal in the second half to make the score 3–1.

Mahmoud led the team three months later at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup. In the run up to the competition, Palestine made history by playing and defeating its first UEFA opponent, Azerbaijan, 2–0. Preparation for the competition was less than ideal with Abdelatif Bahdari, Roberto Bishara, Omar Jarun, Majed Abusidu, Ali El-Khatib, and Imad Zatara unavailable due to club commitments and having Raed Fares, Haitham Theeb, Ismail Amour, Mohammed Al-Masri, Rafit Eyad and Murad Alyan out with injury. Palestine finished group play at the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup without conceding a goal after 2–0 wins over Nepal and Maldives along with a 0–0 draw against Turkmenistan en route to a semifinal exit at the hands of eventual champions Korea DPR.

Palestine won their first West Asian Football Federation Championship match in 2012, defeating Lebanon 1–0 in Kuwait City.

In 2013, They secured a second straight AFC Challenge Cup berth, qualifying for the 2014 edition by topping Group D with 7 points, ahead of Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The team ended up winning the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup without conceding a goal and drawing just one out of five games. The win brought the Palestine team their first major trophy and assured them of participation in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, also their first ever. In the run-up to qualifying they scored 16 goals, won six games and drew twice, while putting together eight straight clean sheets. Ashraf Nu'man was crowned top scorer of the finals tournament having scored the winning goal in the final against Philippines and three additional goals in the runner up. Midfielder Murad Ismail was recognized as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Shortly following their 2014 AFC Challenge Cup triumph and qualification 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Jamal Mahmoud resigned as national team manager citing irreconcilable differences with the Palestine Football Association. Jamal Mahmoud left the post as the most successful manager in national team history by a number of metrics. He led the team to an all-time high rank of 85 in the FIFA Rankings, won 14 of his 34 games, registered a 41% win percentage and a points-per-game rate of 1.41.

Palestine were placed in Group D at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup alongside Japan, Jordan and Iraq which lost all three group matches. They were defeated 0–4 by Japan, lost 1–5 to Jordan and finished their campaign with a 0–2 loss to Iraq.

Following the disastrous showing at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup the PFA appointed Olympic Team manager Abdel-Nasser Barakat as national team manager who moved to overhaul the squad choosing not to call up Ramzi Saleh, Hussam Abu Saleh, Ismail Al-Amour, Raed Fares, Murad Ismail Said, and Mousa Abu-Jazar all of whom had been part of the national team at the last Asian Cup Finals. Barakat led a search for a number of players eligible to represent Palestine in South America and Europe. In his first game in charge debutants Pablo Tamburrini and Matias Jadue scored in a narrow 3-2 loss to Saudi Arabia in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Palestine registered a pair of famous 6-0 wins over Malaysia during the course of World Cup qualifying. Those results combined with valiant 0-0 draws at home to Saudi Arabia and UAE kept Palestine in the hunt for qualification to the Third Round of Asian World Cup qualification until the penultimate match day. They were eliminated from 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification following a 2-0 loss away to UAE on March 24, 2016. They won their final 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match at home five days later 7-0. This game marked the debuts of Ahmed Awad and Yashir Pinto with the national team. It also marked the first time Palestine won a game on home soil since readmission to FIFA following draws against Jordan, Afghanistan, Thailand, and UAE.

Home matches in Palestine (Official)

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date Venue Opponent Result Competition Palestine scorers
26 October 2008 Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem  Jordan 1–1 Friendly Ahmed Keshkesh
3 July 2011 Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem  Afghanistan 1–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying Houssam Wadi
28 July 2011 Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem  Thailand 2–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying Murad Alyan (2)
8 September 2015 Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem  United Arab Emirates 0–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying
29 March 2016 Dora International Stadium, Hebron  Timor-Leste 7–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying Yashir Pinto (2), Jonathan Cantillana (2), Jaka Ihbeisheh, Ahmed Awad, Abdelatif Bahdari
5 September 2016 Dora International Stadium, Hebron  Tajikistan 1-1 Friendly Carlos Salom
13 June 2017 Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem  Oman 2–1 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying Yashir Pinto, Jonathan Cantillana

Competition records

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.