Al-Battat dedicates historic qualification to Palestine people

Captain Mus’ab al-Battat expressed the squad’s pride after Palestine secured qualification to the third stage of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time on Thursday.
A goalless stalemate with Lebanon in Group I of the Preliminary Joint Qualification – Round 2 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 was enough for Palestine to secure second place.
The result also meant a fourth consecutive appearance in the AFC Asian Cup Finals, with the West Asian side having advanced to the knockout stage for the first time at Qatar 2023.
“We are grateful to reach the final stage of the World Cup qualifiers for the first time and getting the ticket to the Asian Cup. Both are important achievements for Palestine football, especially with the situation we are facing,” said al-Battat.
The skipper admitted that nerves resulted in a less than satisfactory performance against Lebanon. “It is true that our performance was not up to the level we wanted, but the result is the most important thing, as we needed a draw to qualify. Having achieved qualification, we are determined to work harder as we realise that the final stage requires more effort as we will be facing teams with great history,” he said.
Palestine play Australia in their concluding fixture on Tuesday but al-Battat said the squad will take some time to celebrate.
“I am happy because we made the Palestinian people happy with this qualification and we hope to continue making them proud. The entire squad is determined to continue giving our best.”