The report says the Palestinian Football Federation halted the local championship during the war, citing instability and security restrictions. Without a regular fixture list, training has become the most reliable part of the football calendar.
That change matters beyond results. Sessions at the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium and elsewhere reportedly provide exercise, social contact and a measure of routine for young players. The game has not replaced competition, but it has preserved a meeting point when ordinary movement is difficult.
The conditions around the pitch are often as important as the activity itself. In Umm al-Khair, the report says children play on a small field bordered by barbed wire, with a ball recently lost beyond the fence during a game. Residents reportedly fear that attempts to retrieve balls can lead to confrontation.
In Nablus, young players train at a municipal stadium described as run-down. The facility is also reportedly sheltering people displaced from Gaza, turning a football ground into both a training space and temporary accommodation.
The national team has also lost the familiarity of home football. The report says Palestine’s home matches have been moved to countries including Jordan, Qatar and Malaysia for safety reasons.
That arrangement allows international fixtures to continue, but it removes the home crowd, familiar surroundings and the sense of hosting a national event. For supporters already separated from a normal domestic season, the distance makes the national team harder to experience as part of daily life.
The next storyline will be whether domestic football can return safely, and how much of its infrastructure survives. Until then, informal training remains more than preparation: it is one of the few remaining ways for communities to keep football, and shared routine, alive.