Profile: Palestine National Football Team

The Palestine national football team is the national team of the Palestinian Football Federation, representing the Palestinian National Authority. The Palestine Football Federation was founded in 1952, its successor the Palestine Football Association was recognized by FIFA in 1998, after the creation of the Palestinian Authority.

The team reached an all-time high position of 115 in the FIFA ranking system in April 2006 after seven years of progression from 191st in August 1999. Following their recognition by FIFA, the team played no official fixtures in the Palestinian Territories due to security concerns until a match on October 26, 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. In recognition of their efforts the Palestinian Football Federation was awarded FIFA's inaugural Development Award.

The game was originally introduced during the time of the British Mandate. Palestine has one of the oldest histories of organized football in the Middle East with evidence of the game being played at an organized level amongst Palestinians youths since at least the early 1920s. Some notable clubs during the early years of Palestinian football were Shabab Al Arab of Haifa, the Orthodox Club of Jerusalem, and Islami Yaffa. During these years, Palestinian stars, such as Jabra Al-Zarqa, George Mardeni, and Majed Assad represented an excellence that was second to none. In fact, Jabra Al-Zarqa received an offer to play for Arsenal FC while playing in the British Army's Haifa League in 1945.

The Palestine/Eretz Israel FA was formed in 1928 and joined FIFA in 1929 but at the time the association was made up of Arab clubs, Jewish clubs and clubs representing British policemen and soldiers serving in the region during the British Mandate rule that spanned the period between World War One and the independence of the state of Israel in 1948. After being phased out by the Palestine/Eretz Israel FA, Arab teams reorganized under the banner of the Arab Palestine Sports Federation which was organized in 1931 and reorganized in 1944. The qualification matches for the 1934 and 1938 World Cups were contested by a Palestine/Eretz Israel team made up exclusively of Jewish and British players.

Source: Wikipedia