Football offers escape for Gaza, but World Cup spirit dimmed

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Sitting outside his makeshift tent in Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium, 43-year-old Sameeh Totah stares at the screen of his mobile phone, watching a World Cup game that took place the night before.

While millions of football fans around the world follow the tournament in real time, Sameeh often has no choice but to rely on delayed broadcasts or match highlights due to frequent internet and electricity outages.

“The situation is bad, especially the internet networks. They keep cutting out,” he said. “Sometimes you get the chance to watch a full match, but power cuts ruin the experience. It’s nothing like before the war, when electricity was available and there were places where people could gather to watch matches.”

The father of six recalls the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when he was still living in his home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood with his family.

Watching football was then a social occasion that brought together friends and relatives, offering a brief escape despite the difficult circumstances already facing Gaza at the time.

“At least back then, people felt relatively comfortable,” he said. “We could gather with friends and loved ones and watch the matches. Despite everything, there was still room for life.”

Sameeh doesn’t live in Zeitoun any more. He was displaced by Israel’s genocidal war – which has now killed more than 73,000 Palestinians since October 2023 – and his home remains within an Israeli-designated forced displacement zone.

Now, from inside a tent in the vicinity of Gaza City’s Yarmouk Stadium, he compares those memories with his current reality.

For Sameeh, the war has not only made it harder to watch football; it has also taken away much of the excitement that once accompanied the tournament.

“It’s very difficult to follow matches the way we used to,” he said. “Sometimes I watch highlights after already knowing the result. Once you know the score, the joy and excitement are gone.”

Yet football still offers him brief moments of relief from the pressures of displacement and war.

“Sometimes I pick up my phone and watch a match just to ease some of the stress and forget, even for a little while, about the suffering we’re living through,” he said.

“Life in a tent is extremely difficult. There’s no privacy and none of the comfort of home.”

Changed lives

But the challenges of following the World Cup in Gaza extend far beyond electricity and internet shortages.

The war has fundamentally altered lives and the relationship people had with the things they once enjoyed.

While some residents continue trying to hold on to the tradition of watching football, others say the war has stripped away much of the passion that once surrounded the tournament.

For 21-year-old Yousef al-Nuaizi from Gaza City, football still occupies a special place in his life.

A longtime supporter of Portugal’s national team, he has followed football for years.

Yet watching the World Cup this year has become an exhausting undertaking that often requires more effort than enjoyment.

Recently, he set out with his friends in search of a place showing one of the matches.

“We walked a long distance to a cafe to watch the game,” he said. “We arrived about dawn, but when we got there, it was closed because there was no electricity.”

Even once they found a place to watch the game, they could only manage 40 minutes before exhaustion got the better of them.

Yousef says it’s just another example of how the simplest aspects of daily life have become a struggle since the start of the war.

“Our lives have changed completely,” he said. “There are no basic necessities. Even going to the toilet requires waiting for your turn for an hour.

“At home, I could do whatever I wanted freely. Now we’re living in tents with no privacy.”

He also remembers the atmosphere during the Qatar World Cup in 2022, when football gatherings were celebrations rather than logistical challenges.

“We had a big screen, national flags, coffee, tea, snacks and sweets,” he recalled. “We would gather together, watch the matches and enjoy the atmosphere.”

Ironically, Yarmouk Stadium, where he now lives as a displaced person after being forced out of his home in the Shujayea neighbourhood, was once part of those cherished memories.

“I used to come here to watch local football matches,” he said. “This stadium held beautiful memories for everyone. Today, it has become a place of displacement instead of a place of joy.”

Due to the war, many sports facilities and stadiums across the Gaza Strip have been repurposed as shelters for displaced families, while many others have been destroyed and taken out of service.

Although he still follows matches whenever possible, the war has clearly changed his relationship with the sport.

“To be honest, I’m not really excited about the matches any more,” he said.

“I mostly watch them to pass the time. The real passion is gone. Almost all the passion in Gaza has disappeared after everything we’ve seen.”

Fear of attack

Despite the hardships, a few people are still trying to recreate a small part of the World Cup atmosphere for displaced families.

In the narrow alleys of makeshift displacement camps, a few individuals have created small gathering spaces where people can share rare moments of joy.

Inside a temporary cafe built from tarpaulins and wooden planks, flags of participating nations hang from fabric walls decorated with football-themed artwork, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of previous tournaments.

The owner, 26-year-old Tariq al-Jadba, spends long hours operating the venue in an effort to provide displaced residents with a place to watch matches.

Watching World Cup games collectively, he says, has become far more difficult than in previous years.

Even as dozens of fans gather at the cafe during major matches, fear remains a constant presence.

“People come to watch football, but we watch while we’re afraid,” he said. “Especially during matches played late at night or before dawn. There’s always fear of nearby bombardment or an attack.”

The challenges extend beyond security concerns. Chronic shortages of electricity and fuel – the result of Israeli restrictions – make keeping screens running a daily struggle.

“We all depend on neighbourhood generators,” he explained. “Sometimes we try to coordinate with generator owners to provide electricity during matches, but many of them don’t have enough fuel. Solar power alone isn’t enough to keep the place running late into the night.”

Despite these obstacles, al-Jadba remains determined to keep the cafe open. For him, football remains deeply embedded in Gaza’s culture.

“I’ve followed football since I was five years old,” he said. “Palestinians in Gaza love football. We are a young and athletic society.

“These conditions have made it harder for people to watch matches,” he added. “But when Arab teams play, the atmosphere becomes lively again and the excitement returns.

“People here are looking for any space that allows them to escape the reality of war and to regain, even briefly, a sense of normal life,” he added.