Mandatory Palestine national football team

Mandatory Palestine during its tour in Egypt in 1931.

Football was introduced to Palestine by the British military during its occupation of the territory in World War I. After the war, the sport's development was continued by "European Jews who had been exposed to soccer in their native countries".[1] The Palestine Football Association was founded in August 1928 and applied for membership in FIFA. It was accepted to FIFA on 6 June 1929 as the Palestine Football Association, following an application by the Jewish Maccabi World Union.[2][3] It was the first of 14 sports organizations which absorbed hundreds of leading sportsmen who immigrated in the wake of antisemitism in Europe.[4]

By FIFA rules, the association had to represent all of Palestine's population, and it made formal claims to that effect. In practice, it was dominated by Jewish players and executives, despite Palestinian Arabs forming the majority of the population.[5]

According to Issam Khalidi, "the Jewish leadership" of the association systematically limited Arab participation by ensuring Jewish clubs constituted its majority, imposing Hebrew for official communication, and adding the Zionist flag in its logo.[6] Consequently, the Palestinian Arab players boycotted the national team and, in 1934, the Arab clubs left the association to form the General Palestinian Sports Association,[5] from which Jews were formally excluded.[7][lower-alpha 2]

Mandatory Palestine played five international games before the end of the British Mandate in 1948 which resulted in Israel's independence.[9] During those five games, the national team fielded only Jewish players. Three anthems were played before each match: the British "God Save the King", the Jewish (and future Israeli) "Hatikvah" and the opposing team's anthem.[10]

In 1948 the team became, officially, the national team of Israel.

• Football in Israel
• History of the Israel national football team
• Israel national football team
• Palestine national football team

• Henshaw, Richard (1979). The Encyclopedia of World Soccer. Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books. ISBN 0-915220-34-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sorek, Tamir (2003). "Palestinian Nationalism Has Left the Field: A Shortened History of Arab Soccer in Israel". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 35 (3): 417–437. doi:10.1017/S0020743803000175. JSTOR 3880202.