Palestine at the AFC Asian Cup

Palestine participated in their maiden AFC Asian Cup, the 2015 tournament, held in Australia. It was the first time Palestine qualified for the Asian Cup and in a major tournament, and this performance has been accredited for the rise of Palestine in the international arena, and the team is widely seen as the symbol of unity for Palestinians amidst the conflict between Hamas and Fatah over control of Palestinian Authority.^[1] Their second competition appearance came in 2019. Palestine qualified for the Asian Cup for the third consecutive time in 2023. It was the first ever time that Palestine qualified for the knockout round of the Asian Cup bringing hope to Palestinians amidst the Israel-Hamas War.^[2]

AFC Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1956 to 1996	Did not enter									Did not enter
2000	Did not qualify									4	1	0	3	3	8
2004										6	0	2	4	3	11
2007										5	1	1	3	3	9
2011										2	0	2	0	1	1
2015	Group stage	16th	3	0	0	3	1	11		13	8	3	2	18	7
2019	Group stage	17th	3	0	2	1	0	3		14	9	2	3	49	8
2023	Round of 16	14th	4	1	1	2	6	7		11	6	1	4	20	10
2027	Qualified									6	2	2	2	6	6
Total	Round of 16	4/19	10	1	3	6	7	21		46	19	8	19	84	52

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

AFC Asian Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result
2015
	Round 1	Palestine 0 – 4  Japan	Loss
	Round 1	Palestine 1 – 5  Jordan	Loss
	Round 1	Palestine 0 – 2  Iraq	Loss
2019
	Round 1	Palestine 0 – 0  Syria	Draw
	Round 1	Palestine 0 – 3  Australia	Loss
	Round 1	Palestine 0 – 0  Jordan	Draw
2023
	Round 1	Palestine 1 – 4  Iran	Loss
	Round 1	Palestine 1 – 1  United Arab Emirates	Draw
	Round 1	Palestine 3 – 0  Hong Kong	Win
	Round of 16	Palestine 1 – 2  Qatar	Loss

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	3	1	+2	6
3	Jordan	3	1	0	2	5	4	+1	3
4	Palestine	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10	0

12 January 2015
Japan	4–0	Palestine	Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle
16 January 2015
Palestine	1–5	Jordan	AAMI Park, Melbourne
20 January 2015
Iraq	2–0	Palestine	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

Palestine's maiden Asian Cup debut occurred in 2015 when they were grouped with Japan, Iraq and Jordan, and thus it was a significant moment for the Palestinian team. Their opening match was against reigning champions Japan which ended in a 0-4 loss. Palestine suffered another loss in their next match, 1–5 to Jordan, in which Jaka Ihbeisheh scored their first ever goal in the Asian Cup. Palestine ended their campaign by a 0–2 defeat to Iraq, thus ended last with zero point.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Australia	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	6
3	Palestine	3	0	2	1	0	3	−3	2
4	Syria	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

6 January 2019 (2019-01-06)

20:00

Syria	0–0	Palestine
	Report

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 8,471

Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

11 January 2019 (2019-01-11)

15:00

Palestine	0–3	Australia
	Report	Maclaren 18' Mabil 20' Giannou 90'

Rashid Stadium, Dubai

Attendance: 11,915

Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

15 January 2019 (2019-01-15)

17:30

Palestine	0–0	Jordan
	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 20,843

Referee: Mohanad Qassim (Iraq)

Palestine made their second appearance in the tournament, having been drawn with two Levant rivals, Syria and Jordan, as well as for the second time in a row against defending champions, Australia. Palestine, in this tournament, had successfully achieved two points for the first time, with two draws against Syria and Jordan, both ending 0–0. However, their encounter against Australia ended with a 0–3 defeat, which meant that Palestine obtained two points and finished without a goal scored in the tournament. They were eliminated from the tournament as they did not have enough points to qualify as a third-placed team.

Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	3	0	0	7	2	+5	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
3	Palestine	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
4	Hong Kong	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

14 January 2024 (2024-01-14)

20:30

Iran	4–1	Palestine
Ansarifard 2' Khalilzadeh 12' Ghayedi 38' Azmoun 55'	Report	Seyam 45+6'

Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan

Attendance: 27,691

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (Qatar)

18 January 2024 (2024-01-18)

20:30

Palestine	1–1	United Arab Emirates
Nasser 50' (o.g.)	Report	Adil 23'

Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah

Attendance: 41,986

Referee: Ahmad Al-Ali (Kuwait)

23 January 2024 (2024-01-23)

18:00

Hong Kong	0–3	Palestine
	Report	Dabbagh 12', 60' Z. Qunbar 48'

Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha

Attendance: 6,568

Referee: Shaun Evans (Australia)

Ranking of third-placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	E	Jordan	3	1	1	1	6	3	+3	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	C	Palestine	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
3	B	Syria	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
4	D	Indonesia	3	1	0	2	3	6	−3	3
5	F	Oman	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
6	A	China	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2

Knockout stage

Round of 16

29 January 2024 (2024-01-29)

19:00

Qatar	2–1	Palestine
Al-Haydos 45+6' Afif 49' (pen.)	Report	Dabbagh 37'

Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor

Attendance: 63,753

Referee: Ma Ning (China)