Dr. Jules Boykoff
is the author of Red Card:The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine (OR Books, 2026) and Kicking(Duke University Press, 2026), a memoir about his former life as a professional soccer player and his current life as a critical academic of sport. He teaches political science at Pacific University. On Bluesky: @julesboykoff.bsky.social.
“While watching the World Cup,” legal scholar and public intellectual Khaled Beydoun implored, “do not look past [the] view from Gaza.” Although Palestine’s national team did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup, many people took Beydoun’s advice seriously, coming together to make sure that the ongoing suffering in Gaza was woven through the political texture of the tournament. Not only did they refuse to “look past [the] view from Gaza,” they made Palestine the forty-ninth team at the World Cup.
The World Cup transpired against the grim backdrop of what the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the United Nations, and Amnesty International have all concluded is Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. Sport scholars have described the situation as “athleticide,” which involves “the obliteration of athletics through the killing, disabling, arrest, or detention of athletes, coaches, staff, officials, and administrators and the destruction of athletic infrastructure and history.” More than 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed by Israel since the genocide began, including Suleiman Al-Obeid, known as “Palestinian Pelé.” (When UEFA, the governing body for European football, posted on X, “Farewell to Suleiman al-Obeid, the ‘Palestinian Pelé.’ A talent who gave hope to countless children, even in the darkest of times,” Egyptian star Mohamed Salah clapped back, “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?” Salah’s post garnered 1.5 million likes.)
At the 2026 World Cup, fans from numerous countries flew the Palestinian flag before, during, and after matches. Although FIFA banned the pre-revolutionary Iran flag inside stadiums, the world’s governing body for soccer permitted the Palestinian flag since it is the official, approved flag of a FIFA member association.
Fans from Bosnia and Herzegovina were in the vanguard of expressing support for Palestine and opposition to genocide. Both outside and inside stadiums across North America, Bosnian supporters chanted “Free Palestine” and “Palestina,” choreographed with thunderous clapping.
“We can obviously relate to what they’re going through, because our country went through it as well,” explained a Bosnian living in the U.S., adding, “We want to see justice for Palestine and for the violence to end. It isn’t in the news as much now, but we want to remind people that the Palestinians are still living through this every day.” Another Bosnian fan noted, “There’s a mutual traumatic experience. I think they’re going through the same things that we went through. So, we’ll never forget them. We’ll always be there for them.”
It wasn’t just Bosnians—with their own genocide still visible in the rearview mirror of history—who advocated for Palestinian rights and freedom. European football supporters from Scotland, Spain, and Turkey also boosted Palestine, as did fans from Qatar, Iraq, Iran, and numerous African countries such as Senegal, Egypt, and Morocco. When Jordan played Algeria, kaffiyehs were in abundance. “The scarves were everywhere, and with an unmistakable Palestinian accent,” according to the New York Times. “Draped on the shoulders of fans, or wrapped around their heads, they were symbols of Palestinian solidarity.” Ahead of the Iran-Egypt match, one fan outside the stadium dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, waving flags for Palestine and Lebanon while demanding “freedom” for both nations.
Egypt coach Hossam Hassan transported this spirit onto the actual pitch. After Egypt’s historic knockout-round win over Australia, Hassan celebrated by displaying a Palestinian flag. Afterwards, he stated, “May God grant them [the Palestinians] victory, may God have mercy on their martyrs…I’m dedicating this victory to the Egyptian people and Palestinian people, those kind and honorable people.”
Hassan also beseeched the world to do more for the Palestinian cause. Ahead of Egypt’s round-of-16 match against Argentina, he said, “If a person anywhere in the world does not feel for the Palestinian people, then they have lost part of their humanity.” The coach added, “Before being Arab, Muslim, Christian or anything else, I am a human being. Through football—the world’s soft power—I want to send a message: please let the Palestinian people live. I ask athletes and journalists everywhere to help deliver that message.” Hassan concluded, “When people speak about human rights, animal rights, and justice, we should also speak about Palestinian civilians.”
FIFA itself could abide this message. Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA issued two long-awaited decisions on formal complaints made by the Palestinian Football Association against the Israel Football Association (IFA). The first was over the IFA staging matches on illegally annexed land in the West Bank, while the second concerned racist behavior by supporters of Israeli soccer club Beitar Jerusalem FC (whose ultras are infamous for chanting “Death to Arabs” and lines like, “I don’t care how many and how they will get killed / Eliminating Arabs makes me thrilled”). In the former, FIFA essentially—and quizzically—claimed the matter was too complicated while in the latter it issued a weak penalty for the IFA: a “warning,” a trifling fine, and a requirement “to display in its next three A-level FIFA competition matches at home a significant and highly visible banner with the words ‘Football United the World—No to Discrimination’ alongside the Israeli Football Association’s logo.”
Where FIFA fell down on the job, fans, players, and a coach stepped up at the 2026 World Cup, using football as a vehicle for remembrance, for social justice.
