Who controls football in Palestine?

Millions of people are watching the FIFA World Cup, but in the Palestinian village of Omer Kher, football looks very different. The village is completely surrounded by Israeli settlements, including this big one, and this outpost so close that if you kick a ball too hard, it'll land inside. On a good day, you'll just lose the ball. On a bad day, armed Israeli settlers, accompanied by the military, will come and end the game. The field itself has an Israeli demolition order on it, and so do the Palestinian homes around it. Because football isn't just a game. It's about who gets to be represented, recognized and seen. In the 1930s, the FIFA-recognized team competing as Palestine was controlled by Zionist institutions and was made up of Jewish and British players, without a single Palestinian. After 1948, the same federation became the Israeli one. Meanwhile, when Palestinians formed their own football federation in 1931, FIFA refused to accept it. They waited decades before gaining recognition as an independent national team. Settler colonialism isn't just about taking land. It's also about controlling representation. Across Palestine, players are facing Israeli movement restrictions, attacks on football infrastructure, and players being arrested and even killed. But Palestinian football continues under occupation, like on this football pitch set for demolition, where kids are fighting not only for their right to play, but their right to exist.