Palestino, a Chilean soccer team long down on their luck, are playing for the first time in 36 years in the Copa Libertadores, the top club tournament in Latin America, cheered on by ecstatic Palestinians worldwide.
The Santiago-based club’s qualification for the regional tournament after a more than three-decade drought has sparked a soccer frenzy among Chile’s Palestinian community, one of the largest outside the Middle East.
It has also won the club a rabid following among Palestinians worldwide, who are elated to see the players take the pitch in the red, green, black and white of their people’s flag.
Photo: AFP
“Palestino triggers a lot of emotions. It represents a people without a voice,” said Anuar Majluf, director of the Palestinian Federation of Chile, an organization that represents the South American country’s 300,000 Palestinians.
“Keeping our Palestinian identity alive through sport — raising the Palestinian flag on the continent through sport — is simply a marvelous thing,” he told reporters.
Thousands of kilometers away, in Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian fans are following the Chilean club as if it were their home team.
Despite the time difference, Mounzer Zahran rearranges his schedule to follow the Copa Libertadores action at home.
“Sometimes I stay up until 5am to watch the matches,” he told reporters. “To me, it’s important to support the team, because it carries the name of Palestine. And seeing the stands filled with Palestinian flags during the matches is priceless.”
His friend, Daoud Nassar, a student in the West Bank town of Birzeit, beamed in his Palestino jersey — sent to him by a friend in Chile — as he described the club’s rabid following at his university.
“They are raising Palestine’s colors high. They represent it with pride,” he said.
The club’s fans include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has called them the “pride of the Palestinian people.”
After the club defeated three-time tournament champions Nacional of Uruguay to advance to the second round, Abbas called the feat “a very good example that, when Palestinians are given their freedom, they can work miracles.”
“I call on all Palestinians and people who sympathize with our cause to support Palestino, because they are carrying our message of freedom, justice and peace wherever they play,” he told Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
The club have had rougher going in the second round, and are currently in third place in Group 5 with four points.
However, with two matches to go in the group stage they can still qualify for the knock-out round.
They are hoping to turn their fortunes around on Tuesday when they face Venezuelan side Zamora, who are currently bottom of the group.
Palestino are the only professional team in the world to compete in FIFA-sanctioned matches wearing the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The jersey has caused controversy. Two years ago, the club came out with a new jersey design that featured a map of Palestine before the creation of Israel in 1948.
That drew an outraged reaction from Chile’s Jewish community, which complained to the local soccer federation.
The federation sanctioned the club, ruling that the map was a political statement.
However, the club has defiantly continued including the map in less visible form. Currently, it features on the sleeve.
“Putting the map on the jersey is our way of showing our identity and our resistance in Chile as well as in Palestine,” said Nadia Garin, a 39-year-old descendant of Palestinian immigrants.
Palestino was founded as a club for the Palestinian immigrants who arrived in Chile by the thousands in the early 20th century, and made its professional debut in 1952.
Initially, its players were all Arab, but over time its Palestinian identity has become more figurative than literal.
Today none of the players come from an Arab background.
Still, the club is an important part of the Palestinian community’s identity.
And a shared passion for soccer has helped pave the way for Palestinians’ broader acceptance in Chilean society, said community leader Majluf.
“The club was created because Chileans didn’t want Palestinians to play on their teams. So we created this team. Once we were able to play, little by little we were accepted and we managed to integrate into Chilean society,” he said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two