Palestine opened their 2026 World Cup qualifying group stage with a remarkable 0-0 draw against South Korea in Seoul.
Palestine held South Korea to a well-deserved but surprising 0-0 draw in their opening match of Group C of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
The remarkable result in Seoul continues the rise of Palestinian football, which reached its peak earlier this year with qualification for the AFC Cup knockout stage for the first time in the tournament held in Qatar.
Palestine’s appearance in the group stage of World Cup qualifying is also a first, but little hope was placed on their match against the AFC qualifiers, who have made a record 11 appearances at world football’s showpiece event.
South Korea had a number of stars including striker Son Heung-min, captain of Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League, but failed to break through the Palestinian defence.
Palestine overcomes many obstacles to hold South Korea
The odds were also very slim for Palestine given that South Korea had not lost a qualifying match at home since 2013, while their hosts were ranked 14th in the world by FIFA – compared to the Canaan Lions’ ranking of 96th.
Despite these obstacles, Palestine appeared to have opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, but their effort was correctly ruled offside.
Hong Myung-bo is the hosts’ fourth coach this year and his team struggled to get their talisman and captain Son into the game, while the defence looked unstable.
Their best effort of an even first half came from Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in, but Palestinian goalkeeper Rami Hamadeh was equal to a well-struck close-range shot.
Hamadeh was called into action again by Lee in the 74th minute when he deflected a free-kick over the bar, shortly after the South Korean had wasted another good chance by shooting wide.
Oday Dabbagh came close for Palestine, whose legs were tired, on the counter-attack before Son hit the outside of the post in the dying minutes.
How can Palestine secure a place at the 2026 World Cup?
Following the second round of preliminary knockout matches, the AFC Qualifiers group stage has now been formed by the remaining 18 teams from the region.
Iraq and Jordan are the other two big favourites, along with South Korea, to clinch the two automatic World Cup qualifying places in Group C, with Palestine, Oman and Kuwait considered distant outsiders to challenge for the top spots.
Beyond the two automatic qualifiers from the group stage, six teams, made up of the best third and fourth-placed teams from the three groups, will advance to an additional phase comprising two groups. The three teams from each group in these groups will play each other once on neutral ground. The top two teams will qualify for the World Cup.
The second-placed teams will face off in a play-off for a place in the intercontinental qualifiers for the remaining World Cup spots.
The Palestinians, meanwhile, play their home games abroad, usually in the Middle East, because of the war in Gaza. The local league has been suspended and many players are without a club.
The 2026 World Cup will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with the final taking place in the United States.
