Argentina will face Spain in the FIFA World Cup final on Sunday evening.
Published 07/19/2026, 13:47.
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Palestinians in the Gaza Strip watch the Egypt-Argentina 2026 FIFA World Cup match on July 7. (OMAR AL-QATTAA/AFP)
This is the match everyone is waiting for: on Sunday, July 19, in the World Cup final, defending champion Argentina will meet the Spanish team that beat the Blues. This is not quite what is happening in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where nothing escapes conflict and politics. In football, both Palestinians and Israelis have their favorites.
In Israel, even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose his side: “I will support Argentina because they have a superstar president. Miley is a friend of Israel.” Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, has his allies. And Argentine President Javier Miley is one of them. Michal, a young Israeli woman, even calls him by name: “Javier is a supporter of Israel. He is a Zionist. He came to Israel to see the Western Wall. So I’m for Argentina.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Spain, in fact, joins Ireland in being the most ardent European support for the Palestinians. In Ramallah, just ten kilometers from Jerusalem, Yazane, like almost all his friends, supports La Roja: “One of the best players in the Spanish team is Lamin Yamal. Recently he waved the Palestinian flag, people took it as support for the Palestinian cause. It played a big role. People here politicize everything that happens, and even a football match is politics.”
“In Palestine, Spain is now seen as a pro-Palestinian country. That’s why many Palestinians are pro-Spain.”– concludes Yazane. But not all, he admits, as Lionel Messi’s aura and especially Diego Maradona’s political commitment to the cause of a free Palestine have persuaded some football fans to support Argentina.