Friday, October 17, 2008
ZURICH, Switzerland —
Palestine is set to play its first international soccer match on home soil.Palestine will host Jordan in a friendly on Oct. 26 at the Ram stadium in Gaza City after 10 years of playing home games in Jordan and Qatar, FIFA said Friday.
The renovated stadium will be opened by FIFA president Sepp Blatter after the world governing body paid to have it upgraded to international standards.
"It is very important to FIFA that countries are able to play their home matches in their own stadium," FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said.
Blatter will also inaugurate a second grass soccer field in Palestinian territory, at Majed Al-Asaad in El Bireh.
The Ram stadium will give Palestine a recognized home 10 years after getting international playing status from FIFA.
Palestine has played home matches in the last three World Cup qualifying competitions in Doha, Qatar, and used a training camp at Ismailia in Egypt.
Travel for away matches has also been complicated.
Palestine failed to arrive for a recent World Cup qualifier in Singapore because of restrictions imposed by Israel, with 18 players and officials living in the Gaza Strip denied travel permits.
Israel had declared Gaza "hostile territory" and allowed only humanitarian hardship cases to leave.
FIFA denied a request from the Palestinian federation to reschedule the fixture and declared it a forfeit and 3-0 win for Singapore, eliminating Palestine 7-0 on aggregate.
Palestine is rated 180th of 207 nations in the FIFA world rankings. It peaked at No. 115 in April 2006.
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