Palestine was about to embark on its 2026 men’s Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign when the latest round of Hamas-Israeli conflict broke out, making Palestine’s national football stadium in the Israeli-occupied West Bank potentially unsafe for matches. As a result, the Asian Football Confederation asked the football-loving nation to stage its home matches in a neutral venue. Algeria in north Africa offered to host Palestine’s games and cover its players’ costs. Mahfoud Amara is a specialist in the intersection of sport and politics with a particular research focus on football in the Arab world. We asked him three questions.
What’s the history of Algeria and Palestine’s relationship?
There are parallels between the colonial systems in Algeria and Palestine. Both nations have been under direct military and settlement occupation. In the case of Algeria this was until independence in 1962.
Algeria had a large population of European settlers who confiscated the
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