The UAE national team will be part of football history next week when they play a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Palestine in the West Bank.
The Football Association has confirmed the match will take place at the Faisal Al Husseini Stadium in the West Bank town of Al Ram on Tuesday, the first competitive tie to be played by the Palestine senior national side in their homeland.
The decision to allow Palestine to play in its own territory comes after Fifa requested earlier this year that Israel lift sanctions restricting the movement of players between non-contiguous Palestinian territories, referring to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The Palestine FA had previously asked for Israel to be removed from football’s world governing body.
In May, Sepp Blatter, the outgoing Fifa president, travelled to the Middle East to meet Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, to attempt to resolve the dispute, and this match is seen as a test of Israel’s willingness to uphold its end of the bargain.
The UAE team will travel to Jordan on Friday, after hosting Malaysia the night before. The Emiratis will cross into the West Bank on Sunday by bus via the King Hussein Bridge.
On Monday, Mahdi Ali’s side will conduct a training session at the Faisal Al Husseini Stadium, which holds 12,500 fans and has an artificial-turf pitch. The match is scheduled for the following evening at 6pm UAE time.
The UAE opened their qualifying campaign in June with a 1-0 victory against East Timor. They are third in Group A, although they sit level on three points with top-placed Palestine and second-place Saudi Arabia. Palestine, who defeated Malaysia 6-0 in June, have played one match more.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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