According to a report by Al Jazeera, Hijazi, 23 years old, spends his days near small playgrounds in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, close to the Israeli police headquarters. There, he helps distribute refreshments to the players, trying to stay close to the game he grew up with.
Hijazi, who previously played for the Palestinian national team and Hilal Al-Quds Club, says that football for him is not just a profession, but a part of daily life. But since sports activity stopped, players are content with individual training in gyms, awaiting the return of competitions.
Hilal Al-Quds Club was an essential part of Hijazi’s life, as it was founded by his grandfather, and he rose through the age groups until he reached the first team and participated with them in matches outside Palestine. But the attacks of October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war on Gaza changed everything.
No one yet knows when the Palestinian Professional League, which has been suspended since the beginning of the war, will return, amid growing fears for the future of Palestinian football.
Disappeared salaries and alternative professions
Before the league stopped, Palestinian clubs relied on players from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But the Israeli military escalation in the West Bank, the closure of roads, and the escalation of settler attacks made the movement of players between cities extremely difficult.
According to the report, a professional player in the Palestinian League previously earned between 2,000 and 3,000 dollars a month, while some national team players received about 7,000 dollars.
Today, the scene has completely changed. Coach Khaled Abu Dalu, a former national team player who has been running a football academy in Jerusalem for about a decade, says that some of his former players who were stars are now unemployed or working in professions that do not reflect their sporting career.
Hegazy confirms that a large number of players left football at the peak of their careers and went into different jobs. Some of them work in construction, and some of them have become a barber, a mechanic, or an employee in a supermarket or bakery.
He adds that the problem is not related to sports only, but rather to the daily income of entire families, as the players used to depend on the monthly salary, while today many of them are without a stable source of livelihood.
As for former player Mustafa Owais, he narrates that one of his colleagues from Bethlehem used to depend entirely on football, but after the war he began working two days a week in the West Bank, for a small amount of money that was not enough for his family. He also points out that another player who was earning $5,000 a month now lives on only about $500.
Migration to other leagues
With the absence of the local league, some players tried to look for alternative opportunities. Some of them moved to the Israeli league, despite the political and social sensitivity of the decision. Coach Abu Dalu says that, in the end, the player wants to practice what he loves and secure his life, until the return of the Palestinian League.
Other players also headed abroad. Coach Abdel Fattah Arar, who previously led prominent Palestinian clubs, estimates that between 70 and 80 players went to Libya, about 10 to Egypt, and a smaller number to Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Some of these countries treat Palestinian players as local players, not foreigners, which makes contracting with them less expensive. But the opportunity is not available to everyone, as some players, according to Arar, “disappear” from the sports scene entirely.
Hijazi says that returning after a long period of hiatus is not easy, even for those who find an external offer. The player first needs to regain his fitness and passion within the local league, before thinking about having a professional experience abroad.
Women’s football…an achievement in the midst of collapse
On the other hand, the Palestine women’s national team succeeded in giving some hope to Palestinian football. In April 2025, the national team won the West Asian Women’s Championship for the first time after defeating Jordan in the final.
Laila Atma, 18, a player from Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem and a member of the U-20 team, says that the players always reminded themselves that there were people in Gaza encouraging them, which gave the team additional motivation.
But this achievement does not hide the scale of the crisis. The clubs that Laila previously played for have disappeared due to the current circumstances, and she does not know girls her age who still play football in Jerusalem. She says that the absence of a goal makes it difficult to continue, because talent requires training and opportunities, and without that, progress is not possible.
Jill exits the game
The greatest danger, according to coaches, does not only affect current players, but also an entire generation of young talents.
Khalil Hamed, a former player and current coach at Abu Dalo Academy, says that every year of suspension means the loss of a new generation. The young men who were supposed to enter the first team at the age of 18 either left the game or lost the motivation to continue.
As for Abdel Fattah Arar, who has contributed to the development of the West Bank League since its launch in 2008, he says that none of the young players he was training in 2023 are no longer playing football today. He adds that 3 or 4 years in football is equivalent to an entire generation, or a complete cycle between one World Cup and another.
Despite hopes for the return of a mini-version of the league after the summer break, financial conditions appear difficult. The clubs suffer from a severe lack of funding, in light of the freezing of Palestinian Authority funds by Israel, and the decline in support from local businessmen.
Owais says that the salaries of the players, if the league returns, may not exceed 500 shekels per month, and some may not receive any salary. The scene is summarized by saying that Palestinian sports have gone back 20 years.
However, Arar refuses to give up. He believes that the academies spread across Palestinian villages and cities, many of which are run by former players, may form the nucleus of a future renaissance.
In the small Sheikh Jarrah stadiums, former players watch children as young as 12 years old training. Abu Dalu believes that there are real talents among them, but he fears that they will face the same fate if the league is suspended for a long time.
He says that if a young player reaches 18 years old without an opportunity, he may find himself with only two options: to become a coach, or to leave football permanently.
