Palestine’s Dabbagh: Football has given me a path

• Oday Dabbagh is the first Palestine-born player in a major European league

• Palestine still alive in the third round of World Cup 26 qualification

• Forward tells FIFA how football changed his life

Already we’ve seen breaking, surfing and skateboarding; next up there’s squash, lacrosse and American flag football. With the way that new, slightly left-field sports are being added to the Olympic roster, you just never know.

Maybe there is a place, after all, for footvolley or padel and, if there is, Palestine may well be able to tap into the talents of one of the nation’s most gifted athletes, as Oday Dabbagh explains to FIFA.

“When I was younger I studied physical education so there are loads of other sports that I enjoy. Basically, all kinds of things outside of football, but especially padel and footvolley – those are my favourite hobbies for sure.”

Far from being a pastime, the 11-a-side game has, for the better part of a decade, been a career, a lifeline and a source of solace for one of Palestine’s greatest footballers. The nation’s languid No11, who is able with his right, clinical with his left and deadly in the air.

Still only 25, it’s a long way from the winding streets of Jerusalem, where Dabbagh grew up, to Charleroi, the one-time Belgian industrial hub, where he plays his club football for the top-flight outfit of the same name.

From making his senior debut for Hilal Al-Quds in the West Bank Premier League as a 16-year-old to now having featured at two AFC Asian Cup tournaments, where he scored his nation’s second ever goal at the continental championships, it has already been a wild ride.

That ride become dizzying late in August 2021, when he came on as a substitute for Portuguese side Arouca, in a league match against Porto; in the process becoming the first Palestinian-born player to feature in a major European league.

Football, for almost all Palestinian children, is an outlet; a game that is both played and supported passionately. But as Dabbagh tells FIFA, he could never imagine that, growing up, he would have scaled the heights he already has at such a young age.

“Of course, as a child, I started to play for fun with friends and in school. It was just about playing as a kid, enjoying my childhood, without any thoughts of a professional career.

“When I was discovered by someone from Hilal Al-Quds club though I then started to also get some call-ups for the youth national team and only then I started to see a professional career in football in my future.”

That carefree child is now the linchpin of a Palestinian side in desperate need of a fortune reversal, with their FIFA World Cup 26™ qualification hopes now in precarious territory. Having impressed in the AFC’s second round preliminaries and then started the third with an eye-catching draw in Seoul against Korea Republic, they’ve only tallied a single point from the subsequent four outings.

In a match against Oman last Thursday where they had more shots, won more duels and had more interceptions, they were sunk by an 83rd minute Muhsen Al-Ghassani shot for a 1-0 defeat that leaves them bottom of the group.

While bridging the six-point gap to the automatic qualification spots over the remaining five fixtures represents a tough assignment, making up the four point deficit to fourth-placed Oman, and thereby securing a spot in the fourth round, is still achievable. That, as Dabbagh knows, has to start with a positive result this week against Korea in neutral Amman.

“To lose against Oman was a really disappointing feeling, especially since I feel that we were the better side. That was a really important and crucial match, but now we will do our best [against Korea].

“I think we still have a good chance to reach the next round. If we look at the points now, the first two spots on the table are far from us, so we are looking at the third and fourth positions and I see it as very possible to get there.”

With Palestine having scored just three goals through those first five matches, the pressure is on for those up front to deliver and that’s a responsibility that Dabbagh is embracing.

“The pressure is always there, even if I score but when we are not scoring it is more pressure of course, so I must play and leave everything in the hands of God. Every time I play though I want to do everything I can because there is no greater feeling than representing our country. It’s an honour and a source of great pride.”

It also comes at a time of great turmoil for the nation. The ongoing conflict means that Palestine hasn’t been able to play a competitive home fixture since 2019, and naturally that takes a toll.

For Dabbagh, who dreams of one day making his way to the English Premier League and of steering Palestine to the World Cup, football is a way of trying to find tranquillity in these tumultuous times.

“We try to help each other as much as we can but it’s not easy, especially in the country’s bad situation. [When we are in camp], we try though to distance ourselves from the media and not watch the news so that we can focus, but it’s not easy.

“It really means a lot to us [being able to represent our country], it’s great to get to prove to everyone that Palestine is a competitive team and has good players.

“Football has changed my life. It has changed it for the better and it has given me meaning. It’s given me a path to a better life for myself and my family.”

Source:FIFA