Saudi Arabia's national soccer team to face Palestinian counterpart in a historic visit

Record ID: 1436473

  • Title: Saudi Arabia's national soccer team to face Palestinian counterpart in a historic visit
  • Date: 13th October 2019
  • Summary: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (OCTOBER 13, 2019) (REUTERS) HEAD OF THE PALESTINIANS' FIFA MEMBER ASSOCIATION, JIBRIL RAJOUB RECEIVING AND WALKING ALONGSIDE PRESIDENT OF THE SAUDI SOCCER FEDERATION, YASSER AL-MISHAL, ALONG WITH SAUDI DELEGATION PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS SHAKING HANDS WITH SAUDI ARABIA NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM DELEGATION DELEGATION SITTING AT MEETING ROON ABBAS SITTING NEXT TO AL-MISHAL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS, SAYING: "We are proud of this visit and we feel that it reflects more and more the historic relationship between the the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Palestine." SAUDI DELEGATION CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PRESIDENT OF THE SAUDI SOCCER FEDERATION, YASSER AL-MISHAL, SAYING: "Since we were children we have known and loved Palestine, we have wished and dreamt about visiting Palestine. Thank God, I consider myself very lucky to be the first president of the Saudi federation, and possibly the first Saudi official to reach the Palestinian territories. We are truly very proud and happy to be here."
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2019 15:14
  • Keywords: Palestinians Soccer Saudi Arabia Abbas
  • Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Soccer,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA001B0XJ5MV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Saudi Arabia national soccer team arrived in Ramallah, West Bank on Sunday (October 13) to face their Palestinian counterpart on Tuesday (October 15) in the joint 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar and the 2023 Asian Cup in China.
    Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah received the president of the Saudi federation Yasser Al-Mishal, saying the visit reflected the historical relationship between the two countries.
    The Saudi delegation visit to the Palestinian territories was opposed by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad, calling it a normalisation with Israel, while governor of Ramallah and al Bireh, Laila Ghannam, opposed these statements.
    Saudi Arabia leads the fourth group at the qualification. It also includes Singapore, Yemen and Uzbekistan, with four points it collected from two matches and with one point ahead of the Palestinian team.
    Saudi Arabia drew 2-2 with Yemen before beating Singapore 3-0 on Thursday (October 10), while the Palestinian team beat Uzbekistan 2-0 and then lost 2-1 from Singapore.
    (Production: Suheir Sheikh, Saed Howari, Adel Abu Nemeh)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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