When Palestine played football at Kerala Blasters’ home-to-be

The Palestine men's football team is back in the news following the announcement of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers scheduled for March. Did you know Palestine played a game in Kochi, the home of Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters?

The international friendly between Palestine and India was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on February 6, 2013. It was a year before the Blasters came into existence, but the two footballing nations witnessed an impressive crowd, which would later be seen during ISL matches at the venue.

Sunil Chhetri, who retired from international football last year, captained India against Palestine in Kochi. The match was memorable for future Blasters fan favourite C K Vineeth, who made his international debut coming on as a late substitute.

India took a surprise lead in the 17th minute through Clifford Miranda before exciting Palestine attacker Ashraf Nu'man equalised (30). India went ahead again with Syed Rahim Nabi scoring (39), but Jamal Mahmoud's Palestine came back stronger in the second half. Nu'man completed a hat-trick 20 minutes into the second period after Abu Saleh made it 2-2. India were managed by Dutchman Wim Koevermans.

Palestine visited India again in October 2014 for a friendly in Siliguri, where the visitors won, 3-2. Palestine have not played against India since then.

On Thursday, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced that Palestine's World Cup qualifiers against Jordan and Iraq will be played in Amman on March 20 and 25 respectively. The Palestine Football Association had hoped to host the Iraq match at the Faissl Al-Husseini Stadium in the Al-Ram suburb in Jerusalem, where it had hosted home matches until 2019.