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 primarily by
European Jews who had been exposed to football in their native countries. In August 1928,
Yosef Yekutieli, a leader of the Jewish sports organization
Maccabi World Union, founded the
Palestine Football Association (PFA). The PFA was accepted into
FIFA on 6 June 1929, following an application by the Jewish
Maccabi World Union. It became the first of 14 sports organisations in Palestine to gain international recognition and served as a hub for hundreds of leading sportsmen who immigrated to the region in the wake of rising
antisemitism in Europe. By FIFA rules, the association was required to represent the entire population of Palestine. However, in practice, the PFA was dominated by Jewish players and executives, despite
Palestinian Arabs constituting the majority of the population. According to Issam Khalidi, the Jewish leadership of the PFA systematically limited Arab participation by ensuring Jewish clubs formed the majority of its membership, imposing
Hebrew as the primary language for official communication, and incorporating the
Zionist flag into its logo. These actions alienated Arab clubs, who felt marginalized and excluded from the decision-making processes of the PFA. In 1934, the Arab clubs formally left the PFA to form the General Palestinian Sports Association, citing grievances such as the lack of representation, the imposition of Hebrew, and the scheduling of games on Saturdays, which conflicted with Arab customs. During those five games, the national team fielded only Jewish players. Before each match, three anthems were played: the British "
God Save the King", the Jewish (and future Israeli) "
Hatikvah" and the opposing team's anthem. In 1948, following the
establishment of the State of Israel, the team officially became the
national team of Israel. == Players ==