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Palestine

Nickname(s)	أسود كنعان (Lions of Canaan)[1] الفدائيون (The Fedayeen) الفرسان (The Knights)
Association	Palestinian Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach	Noureddine Ould Ali
Captain	Abdelatif Bahdari
Most caps	Ramzi Saleh (68) [2]
Top scorer	Fahed Attal (14)[2]
Home stadium	Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium
FIFA code	PLE
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	99 (20 December 2018)[3]
Highest	73 (February–March 2018)
Lowest	191 (April–August 1999)
Elo ranking
Current	109 1 (2 February 2019)[4]
Highest	103 (5 September 2017)
Lowest	159 (October 2011)
First international
Egypt 8–1 Palestine (Alexandria, Egypt; 26 July 1953)
Biggest win
Palestine 11–0 Guam  (Dhaka, Bangladesh; 1 April 2006)
Biggest defeat
Egypt 8–1 Palestine (Alexandria, Egypt; 26 July 1953)  Iran 7–0 Palestine (Tehran, Iran; 5 October 2011)
Asian Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2015)
Best result	Group stage (2015 and 2019)

The Palestine national football team (Arabic: منتخب فلسطين لكرة القدم‎) is the national football team of Palestine and represents Palestine in international football.^[5][6]

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 73rd in the FIFA ranking in February 2018 after not losing any game since early 2016. Palestine's first title was the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup. The country also qualified for the 2019 Asian Cup.

Following their readmission 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.^[7] In recognition of their efforts the Palestinian Football Federation was awarded FIFA's inaugural Development Award and AFC National Team of the Year.^[8]

History

Beginning

Football appears in Palestine in the beginning of the XIX century. The national team played it first competition in the 1953 Pan Arab Games in Alexandria, followed many other participations in the Pan Arab Games and also in other competitions such as the Palestine Cup of Nations and the Arab Nations Cup.

International recognition

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.^[7] Palestine received the inaugural FIFA Development Award in recognition of the achievement.^[8]

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.^[9] However, as Thailand was ordered to forfeit the first match because of fielding an ineligible player,^[10] 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,^[11] they lost the return leg by 1–2^[12] and eliminated by away goals rule.^[13]

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 24 March 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
10 October 2017	Dora International Stadium, Hebron	Bhutan	10–0	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying	Abdelatif Bahdari (3), Jonathan Cantillana (2), Abdullah Jaber, Tamer Seyam, Sameh Maraaba, Khaled Salem, Mohammad Natour
14 November 2017	Arab American University Stadium, Jenin	Maldives	8–1	2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying	Sameh Maraaba (4), Mahmoud Yousef (2), Jonathan Cantillana, (own goal)
4 August 2018	Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem	Iraq	0–3	Friendly
16 November 2018	Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Jerusalem	Pakistan	2–1	Friendly	Alexis Norambuena, Nazmi Albadawi

Problems relating to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The Palestinian Football Federation faces problems in training and playing due to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Because of travel restrictions placed by Israel upon people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the difficulty in obtaining an exit visa from Israel, many players in the team are drawn from the Palestinian diaspora, from as far away as Chile and the United States.^[14] Recently, Israel's refusal to issue exit visas has resulted in players, or in some case the entire team, being unable to represent the territories. In November 2006 (the last match of 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification group stage is scheduled), all players based inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip were denied exit visas. The AFC cancelled the match since both teams had been eliminated from the competition by virtue of their previous results against China and Iraq.^[15] A film, Goal Dreams, was made about the team attempting to overcome obstacles in the qualification for the 2006 World Cup, who were also featured on the BBC documentary series Frontline Football.

In October 2007, the second leg of a crucial 2010 World Cup qualifier between Palestine and Singapore was not played due to Palestine's inability to obtain exit visas. The AFC and FIFA decided not to reschedule the match despite protests from the PFA, and Singapore was awarded a 3–0 win in a walkover match.^[16] In May 2008, the team was not allowed to travel to the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup. After a 2011 World Cup qualifier against Thailand, two starters, Mohammed Samara and Majed Abusidu, were refused entry to the West Bank and therefore could not travel back with the team from Thailand.^[17]

Striker Ziyad Al-Kord was banned from traveling and had his house destroyed.^[18]Tariq al Quto was killed by the Israel Defense Forces,^[19] and during the Operation Cast Lead three Palestinian footballers, Ayman Alkurd, Shadi Sbakhe and Wajeh Moshtahe, were among the Palestinian casualties.^[20]

Mahmoud Sarsak was administratively detained by Israel in July 2009 for being a member of Islamic Jihad; following a hunger strike and international pressure on his behalf from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, he was released in July 2012.^[21] In 2012, Olympic Team goalkeeper Omar Abu Ruways was arrested by Israel for being a member of a terrorist cell.^[22]

Sameh Maraaba was arrested in April after returning with his team from training in Qatar. The Shin Bet accused Maraaba of exploiting his status as a Palestinian football player to act as a courier for Hamas.
^[23] Shin Bet released a statement in which it was contended that Maraaba admitted that, before he left for Qatar, he met a senior Hamas operative in Kalkilya, asked him to meet an operative from Hamas' military wing in Qatar and received money, a cellphone and written messages which he brought back to Hamas operatives in Kalkilya.
^[23]

Palestinian facilities, such as Palestine Stadium, have been damaged in military conflicts.^[24]

The team's former goalkeeper Abu Rwayyis was arrested in connection with an attack on IDF soldiers in April 2012.^[25]

Competition records

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1998	Not a FIFA member									–	–	–	–	–	–
2002	Did not qualify									6	2	1	3	8	9
2006										6	2	1	3	10	11
2010										2	0	1	1	0	7
2014										4	1	2	1	5	4
2018										8	4	2	2	24	5
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total	–	0/21	0	0	0	0	0	0		26	9	7	10	47	36

Olympic Games

Olympic Games record										Qualifications record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1900 to 2000	Did not enter									Did not enter
2004	Did not qualify									4	2	1	1	5	4
2008										2	0	1	1	2	3
2012										4	3	0	1	6	2
2016										4	2	0	2	6	5
2020	To be determined									To be determined
Total	–	0/23	0	0	0	0	0	0		14	7	2	5	19	14

AFC Asian Cup

AFC Asian Cup Record										AFC Asian Cup qualification
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA		GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956	Did not enter									Did not enter
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000	Did not qualify									4	1	0	3	3	8
2004										6	0	2	4	3	11
2007										5	1	1	3	3	9
2011										2	0	2	0	1	1
2015	Group stage	16th	3	0	0	3	1	11		13	8	3	2	18	7
2019	Group stage	18th	3	0	2	1	0	3		14	9	2	3	49	8
2023	To be determined
Total	Group stage	2/17	6	0	2	4	1	14		44	19	10	15	77	44

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Asian Games

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1951	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1954	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1958	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1962	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1966	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1970	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1974	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1982	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1986	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1990	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1994	Withdrew	0	0	0	0	0	0
1998	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002–present	See Palestine national under-23 football team
Total	0/13	0	0	0	0	0	0

AFC Challenge Cup

AFC Challenge Cup record										Qualifications record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2006	Quarter-finals	5th	4	2	1	1	16	2		Automatic qualification
2008	Withdrew									Withdrew
2010	Did not qualify									2	0	2	0	1	1
2012	Fourth place	4th	5	2	1	2	7	6		3	2	1	0	5	1
2014	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	6	0		3	2	1	0	10	0
Total	Champions	3/5	14	8	3	3	29	8		8	4	4	0	16	2

WAFF Championship

WAFF Championship Finals
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2000	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	3	5
2002	Group stage	5th	2	0	0	2	1	4
2004	Group stage	5th	2	0	1	1	2	3
2007	Group stage	5th	2	0	0	2	0	3
2008	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	0	4
2010	Group stage	9th	2	0	0	2	1	6
2012	Group stage	8th	3	1	0	2	3	4
2014	Group stage	7th	2	0	1	1	0	1
Total	Group stage	8/8	18	1	3	14	10	30

West Asian Games

West Asian Games
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1997	Did not enter
2002	Fourth place	4th	4	1	1	2	5	11
2005	Group stage	9th	2	0	0	2	0	6
Total	Fourth place	2/3	6	1	1	4	5	17

Arab Nations Cup

Arab Nations Cup
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1963	Did not enter
1964
1966	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	8	3
1985	Did not enter
1988
1992	Group stage	5th	2	0	1	1	1	2
1998	Did not qualify
2002	Group stage	9th	4	0	3	1	7	9
2012	Group stage	9th	2	0	1	1	2	4
Total	Group stage	4/9	11	1	6	4	18	18

Pan Arab Games

Pan Arab Games
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1953	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	3	13
1957	Did not enter
1961	Did not enter
1965	Fourth place	4th	6	2	1	3	7	9
1976	Final group	6th	6	2	1	3	4	9
1985	Did not enter
1992	Group stage	5th	2	0	1	1	1	2
1999	Third place	3rd	6	2	2	2	6	9
2007	Did not enter
2011	Fourth place	4th	5	1	1	3	5	11
Total	Third place	6/10	27	7	6	14	26	55

Recent results and fixtures

Tajikistan  v  Palestine

4 October 2018 (2018-10-04) 2018 Bangabandhu Cup	Tajikistan	0–2	Palestine	Sylhet, Bangladesh
18:30 UTC+6		Report	Cantillana  1' Bahdari  75'	Stadium: Sylhet District Stadium Referee: Mizanur Rahman (Bangladesh)

Palestine  v    Nepal

6 October 2018 (2018-10-06) 2018 Bangabandhu Cup	Palestine	1–0	Nepal	Sylhet, Bangladesh
18:30 UTC+6	Salem  70'	Report		Stadium: Sylhet District Stadium Referee: Mohammed Jalal Uddin (Bangladesh)

Palestine  v  Bangladesh

10 October 2018 (2018-10-10) 2018 Bangabandhu Cup	Palestine	2–0	Bangladesh	Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh
14:30 UTC+6	Balah  8' Maraaba  90+4'	Report		Stadium: Cox's Bazar Stadium Referee: Zaid Thamer Mohammed (Iraq)

Tajikistan  v  Palestine

12 October 2018 (2018-10-12) 2018 Bangabandhu Cup	Tajikistan	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–4 p)	Palestine	Dhaka, Bangladesh
17:30 UTC+6		Report		Stadium: Bangabandhu National Stadium Referee: Mizanur Rahman (Bangladesh)
	Penalties
	O. Abdugafforov Nazarov Asrorov Tursunov Davlatmir		Cantillana Iwisat Al-Batat Bahdari

Palestine  v  Pakistan

16 November 2018 (2018-11-16) Friendly	Palestine	2–1	Pakistan	Al-Ram, Palestine
15:00 UTC+3	Norambuena  36' Albadawi  78'	Report	Bashir  16'	Stadium: Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium Referee: Imad Al-Bouji (Palestine)

China PR  v  Palestine

20 November 2018 (2018-11-20) Friendly	China PR	1–1	Palestine	Haikou, China
20:00 UTC+8	Feng Xiaoting  9'	Report	Pinto  62'	Stadium: Wuyuan River Stadium Referee: Hettikamkanamge Perera (Sri Lanka)

Pakistan  v  Palestine

16 December 2018 (2018-12-16) Friendly	Pakistan	0–2	Palestine	Doha, Qatar
18:00 UTC+3			Dabbagh  25' Maraaba  29'	Stadium: Grand Hamad Stadium

Palestine  v  Iran

24 December 2018 (2018-12-24) Friendly	Palestine	1–1	Iran	Doha, Qatar
17:00 UTC+3	Cantillana  90+1'	Report	Taremi  50'	Stadium: Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium Attendance: 100 Referee: Wathik Mohammed (Iraq)

Iraq  v  Palestine

28 December 2018 (2018-12-28) Friendly	Iraq	1–0	Palestine	Doha, Qatar
18:00 UTC+3	Tariq  47'	Report		Stadium: Suheim bin Hamad Stadium

Kyrgyzstan  v  Palestine

31 December 2018 (2018-12-31) Friendly	Kyrgyzstan	2–1	Palestine	Doha, Qatar
15:00 UTC+3	35'  63' (pen.)		Islame  75' (pen.)

2019 AFC Asian Cup

Group B

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Australia	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Palestine	3	0	2	1	0	3	−3	2
4	Syria	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

Syria  v  Palestine

6 January 2019 (2019-01-06) 2019 AFC Asian Cup	Syria	0–0	Palestine	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
20:00 UTC+4		Report		Stadium: Sharjah Stadium Attendance: 8,471 Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Palestine  v  Australia

11 January 2019 (2019-01-11) 2019 AFC Asian Cup	Palestine	0–3	Australia	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
15:00 UTC+4		Report	Maclaren  18' Mabil  20' Giannou  90'	Stadium: Rashid Stadium Attendance: 11,915 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

Palestine  v  Jordan

15 January 2019 (2019-01-15) 2019 AFC Asian Cup	Palestine	0–0	Jordan	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
17:30 UTC+4		Report		Stadium: Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium Attendance: 20,843 Referee: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq)

Players

The final squad was announced on 26 December 2018.^[26].mw-parser-output .nat-fs-player th{background-color:inherit;border:0}.mw-parser-output .nat-fs-player td{text-align:center;border:0}

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Tawfiq Ali	(1990-11-08)8 November 1990 (aged 28)	30	0	Taraji Wadi Al-Nes
2	2DF	Daniel Mustafá	(1984-08-02)2 August 1984 (aged 34)	4	0	Sarmiento de Leones [es]
3	3MF	Mohammed Bassim	(1995-07-03)3 July 1995 (aged 23)	7	0	Shabab Al-Bireh
4	2DF	Mohammed Saleh	(1993-07-18)18 July 1993 (aged 25)	9	0	Floriana FC
5	2DF	Tamer Salah	(1986-04-03)3 April 1986 (aged 32)	18	0	Hilal Al-Quds
6	3MF	Shadi Shaban	(1992-03-02)2 March 1992 (aged 26)	15	0	Ahli Al-Khaleel
7	2DF	Musab Al-Battat	(1993-11-21)21 November 1993 (aged 25)	31	1	Ahli Al-Khaleel
8	3MF	Jonathan Cantillana	(1992-05-26)26 May 1992 (aged 26)	20	9	Hilal Al-Quds
9	3MF	Tamer Seyam	(1992-11-25)25 November 1992 (aged 26)	31	5	Hassania Agadir
10	3MF	Sameh Maraaba	(1992-11-28)28 November 1992 (aged 26)	29	9	Thaqafi Tulkarem
11	4FW	Yashir Islame	(1991-02-06)6 February 1991 (aged 27)	12	6	Coquimbo Unido
12	4FW	Khaled Salem	(1989-11-17)17 November 1989 (aged 29)	24	3	Markaz Balata
13	2DF	Jaka Ihbeisheh	(1986-08-29)29 August 1986 (aged 32)	15	3	NK Bravo
14	2DF	Abdullah Jaber	(1993-02-17)17 February 1993 (aged 25)	41	2	Ahli Al-Khaleel
15	2DF	Abdelatif Bahdari (captain)	(1984-02-20)20 February 1984 (aged 34)	58	8	Shabab Al-Khalil
16	1GK	Amr Kaddoura	(1994-07-01)1 July 1994 (aged 24)	0	0	Landskrona BoIS
17	3MF	Pablo Tamburrini	(1990-01-30)30 January 1990 (aged 28)	18	1	Shabab Al-Bireh
18	3MF	Oday Dabbagh	(1998-12-03)3 December 1998 (aged 20)	9	1	Hilal Al-Quds
19	4FW	Mahmoud Wadi	(1994-12-19)19 December 1994 (aged 24)	5	0	Al-Masry
20	3MF	Nazmi Albadawi	(1991-08-24)24 August 1991 (aged 27)	5	1	FC Cincinnati
21	2DF	Alexis Norambuena	(1984-03-31)31 March 1984 (aged 34)	16	1	Deportes Melipilla
22	1GK	Rami Hamadeh	(1994-03-24)24 March 1994 (aged 24)	16	0	Hilal Al-Quds
23	3MF	Mohammed Darweesh	(1991-06-02)2 June 1991 (aged 27)	24	0	Hilal Al-Quds

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Palestine squad within the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Haytham Dheeb	(1986-03-12) 12 March 1986 (age 32)	34	1	Jabal Al-Mukaber	v.  Iraq; Friendly 4 August 2018
DF	Jalal Abu Yousef	(1990-06-04) 4 June 1990 (age 28)	1	0	Markaz Shabab Al-Am'ari	v.  Qatar; Friendly 11 September 2018
DF	Michel Termanini	(1998-05-08) 8 May 1998 (age 20)	3	0	Hilal Al-Quds	v.    Nepal; Friendly 6 October 2018
MF	Ahmed Awad	(1992-06-01) 1 June 1992 (age 26)	4	0	Dalkurd FF	v.  Oman; 2019 ACQ 27 March 2018
MF	Abdelhamid Abuhabib	(1989-08-06) 6 August 1989 (age 29)	8	0	Ahli Al-Khaleel	v.  Qatar; Friendly 11 September 2018
MF	Hilal Mousa	(1991-05-30) 30 May 1991 (age 27)	9	0	Ahli Al-Khaleel	v.  Tajikistan; Friendly 12 October 2018

Past squads

• 2006 AFC Challenge Cup squad


• 2012 AFC Challenge Cup squad


• 2012 Arab Nations Cup squad


• 2015 AFC Asian Cup squad

Head to head records

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 27 March 2018

Most capped players

As of 27 November 2018, the ten players with the most caps for Palestine are:^[27][28]

Coaches

Name	Nat	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Honours
Moussa Bezaz		4 July 2009 – 31 July 2011	16	3	6	7
Jamal Mahmoud		15 November 2011 – 10 September 2014	32	14	6	12	2014 AFC Challenge Cup winners
Saeb Jendeya (Interim)		11 September 2014 – 13 October 2014	2	2	0	0
Ahmed Al Hassan		13 October 2014 – 18 April 2015	7	1	1	5
Abdel Nasser Barakat		18 April 2015 – 19 December 2017	19	11	6	2
Julio César Baldivieso		19 December 2017 – 22 April 2018	2	0	1	1
Noureddine Ould Ali		22 April 2018 –	15	4	6	5	2018 Bangabandhu Cup winners

Honours

• 
  AFC Challenge Cup
  
  • Winners (1): 2014
    
  
  


• 
  Bangabandhu Cup
  
  • Winners (1): 2018
    
  
  


• 
  Al-Quds Cup
  
  • Winners (1): 2018 (shared)
  
  


• 
  Pan Arab Games
  
  • Third place (1): 1999
    
  
  


• 
  Philippine Peace Cup
  
  • Third place (1): 2014
    
  
  


• 
  West Asian Games
  
  • Fourth place (1): 2002
    
  
  

See also

• Palestine national football team all-time record


• Palestine national football team results


• Palestine national under-23 football team


• Palestine women's national football team

References

External links

• Palestine Football Association


• 
  Palestine on National-Football-Teams.com


• 
  Palestine at FIFA.com


• 
  Palestine on Youtube.com


• 
  Palestine on Blogger


• 
  Palestine on Twitter


• 
  Palestine's Match Archive on kooora.com


• RSSSF Archive of National Team Results from 1953 to 2004