Gaza vs. the FIFA World Cup

June 19, 2026

I could not bring myself to enjoy the FIFA World Cup this time. Everyone around me is glued to the matches, arguing over teams and celebrating goals, and all I can think about is Gaza. Because the truth is that no place on earth loved football the way those children loved it. They grew up kicking torn balls in narrow streets, playing barefoot between broken buildings, dreaming that one day the world would know their names. Their names will never be chanted from stands, only listed among the dead.

I keep thinking about Mohammed Ramez Al-Sultan. He was fourteen, a player at Al-Hilal club, training at a properly FIFA-recognised academy. One airstrike on his home killed him along with 14 members of his family. His teammate, Malik Abu Al-Amaren, did not even die playing. He was shot while standing in a queue for food aid. Then there was Muhammad Kanaan, also 14, already signed by a professional club, killed by a sniper. And Ahmad Faraj, 17, who wanted nothing more than to wear the Palestinian shirt one day, was taken by a drone strike.