Friendly football match in Spain becomes show of solidarity with Palestine
A friendly match in the Spanish city of Bilbao has turned into a show of solidarity for Palestine as a crowd of 50,000 fans gathered to watch the competition.
Palestine’s first-ever football competition on European soil on Saturday, a symbolic milestone that came as the Zionist regime forces' genocide in the Gaza Strip continues despite the US-brokered peace deal, turned into a major show of solidarity with Palestinians against the Israeli regime.
The friendly match became a large-scale display of solidarity with Palestine, as around 50,000 fans filled the San Mames Stadium to watch a Basque selection face the Palestinian national team on the home ground of Athletic Bilbao.
The Palestinian football players' team, before the kick-off of the match, posed behind a banner that read "Stop the Genocide," directly linking the match to calls for an end to the Zionist regime’s genocidal war on Gaza since October 2023 and for Palestinians' right to live in peace and dignity.
Spectators waved Palestinian flags, held up banners backing Palestinian rights, and joined a march through the city before kick-off.
Palestinians inside the stadium chanted pro-Palestine slogans while raising Palestinian flags and unveiling images of Suleiman Al-Obeid, the former captain of Palestine's national team, who was killed by the Zionist regime’s forces in Gaza while waiting in line for international humanitarian aid for his family.
Al-Obeid's image was displayed as part of a tribute to the Palestinian football captain that turned the game into a remembrance as well as a sporting occasion.
Spectators at the stadium, during the 90 minutes of the match, focused as much on political solidarity as on the football itself.
The 3-0 win for the Basque side, made up of players from Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, and other regional clubs, mattered less than the fact that a Palestinian team, whose athletes have seen stadiums bombed and teammates martyred or displaced by the Zionist regime’s forces, was able to walk out in front of tens of thousands of supporters in Europe.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian football team is scheduled to travel to Barcelona to face a Catalonia selection on Tuesday.
In the past two years, Spain has witnessed several mass protests against the Zionist regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. In this regard, the Basque Country has been a focal point.
Mass demonstrations targeting an Israeli-owned cycling team at the Vuelta were seen in September in Bilbao.
Zionist regime’s forces have martyred at least 69,187 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, and injured 170,703 others since October 2023.