The death of one of the most prolific Palestinian footballers ever and the reaction to the news from one of the game’s most popular players put an unlikely spotlight from the footballing world on the violence in Gaza.
Last week, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) announced that 41-year-old forward Suleiman al-Obeid died in an Israeli attack in Southern Gaza. On Saturday, Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah – one of the most high-profile Arab sportspersons – criticised the tribute issued by UEFA, purportedly asking the European football body to acknowledge that al-Obeid had been killed during an Israeli attack in Gaza. “Can you tell us how he died, where, and why?” he wrote on X.
A news report by Reuters quoted al-Obeid’s family, which consists of his widowed wife and five children, claiming that al-Obeid was queuing to collect food for his family when an Israeli tank shelling killed the 41-year-old.
The PFA’s statement relayed the same reasons for his demise. “The number of footballers killed or who died from starvation has reached 421, including 103 children,” their statement read further. According to the United Nations human rights office, since May of this year, 1,373 Palestinians have now been killed while seeking food.
‘Palestinian Pele’
Al-Obeid had represented the Palestine football team since 2007, turning up for his national side 24 times and scoring two goals. Throughout his career, he has been a regular in the domestic football league of Palestine, representing his club in Gaza City at the time when the conflict broke out in October 2023.
Until late 2023, domestic football was ongoing in Palestine across multiple tiers and regions, which is where al-Obeid made his name. And according to the PFA, he scored more than 100 goals. He plied his trade with Markaz Shabab al-Am’ari in the occupied West Bank, and a variety of other teams in the league system in the country, including at Gaza Sports Club. His exploits earned him the ‘Palestinian Pele’ tag.
Football has been among the most popular sports in the country, and their national team, which became a fully FIFA member in 1998, has stayed active despite the violence that has broken out in their country for the last 18 months. They have played 27 matches since October 2023, including at last year’s AFC Asian Cup and in qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which ended for them in disappointment in June. They played their ‘home’ fixtures in other countries like Jordan and Malaysia.
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Influence in Arab world
Salah has spoken on the Palestinian issue in the past. In October 2023, the Egyptian had posted a video pleading for peace. “It is not always easy to speak in a time like this. There has been too much violence and too much heartbreak and brutality,” he had said.
The 33-year-old, who is the third-highest goalscorer for Liverpool with 245 to his name in just over 400 games, has enjoyed a phenomenal amount of popularity in his home country, as well as in North Africa and the Gulf region. And having won over the people of Liverpool with his exploits on the field (“If he scores another few, I’ll be Muslim too,” being a popular chant heard at Anfield over the last eight years), his fame in the UK has been significant too.
Salah’s soft-spoken image and through the way he observes his faith – in an interview with TIME that profiled him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, he said, “I think we need to change the way we treat women in our culture.” – he has played a part in changing the attitudes of Britons towards Muslims. A Stanford University study in 2019 observed that in the Merseyside region of England, hate crimes against Muslims dropped by 18.9% after Salah arrived at Liverpool. Islamophobic social media posts also saw a decrease.
But with Israel’s war on Gaza, he is forced to juggle his popularity in two opposing parts of the world, perhaps why he has been restrained in his statements on the conflict, and also why it was a surprise for a player of his popularity to criticise UEFA on the subject.
