Palestine football team have unbeaten home record, but they're denied return to Jerusalem
Palestine’s next home match will be played against Iraq on March 25 in Amman, Jordan.
Palestine’s next home match will be played against Iraq on March 25 in Amman, Jordan.
Palestine’s next home match will be played against Iraq on March 25 in Amman, Jordan.
A few days ago, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) released a video reliving the heydays of its men's football team. The video contained footage of matches played at the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium in the Al-Ram suburb of Jerusalem.
According to the PFA, the venue hosted their first home match on Palestinian soil against Jordan on October 26, 2008. The four-minute video reviewed Palestine's various World Cup qualification matches played on neutral venues and ended with a claim that it was ready to return to Jerusalem.
"Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium now appears to be preparing to host home matches again, with great hopes of welcoming the return match against Iraq on 25 March in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers," the PFA said.
That, however, was wishful thinking because on Thursday, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which hosts the Asian leg of FIFA's World Cup qualifiers, announced that Palestine's next home match will be held in Jordan.
The PFA confirmed the development. "Our national team will play with Jordan (March 20) and Iraq (March 25) at the Amman International Stadium during the upcoming March FIFA break," the PFA said in a post.
Unbeaten home record
Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium hosted a few 'home matches' of Palestine since 2008, most recently in 2019, when they defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 and held Saudi Arabia to a goalless draw as part of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Palestine have never lost a competitive fixture at the Faisal Al-Husseini Stadium, making it one of the very few footballing nations with an unbeaten home record. The PFA says its national side's enviable record highlights "the importance of home-ground advantage".
Palestine also played a few Asian Cup qualifiers in 2017 in Jenin and Hebron, regions situated in the West Bank, a territory claimed by the State of Palestine but now allegedly under the occupation of Israel.
In the last six years, Palestine played their home matches in friendly neutral venues in Kuwait, Qatar, Malaysia and Jordan.
In January this year, the PFA said the war between Israel and Hamas claimed the lives of more than 380 Palestinian footballers. The war that began in October 2023 has devastated Gaza, leaving at least 48,000 dead. Though a ceasefire agreement was reached in mid-January 2025 for the hostages-and-prisoners exchange, there have been several incidents of violence on both sides.