A selection of Palestinian footballers took on a group of Spanish players from the Basque Country on Saturday in a charity match raising money for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Organisers said some 50,000 spectators had tickets for the match at San Mames Stadium, the home of Athletic Bilbao.
Many fans waved Palestinian flags, and flags of the northern Basque Country region. Several thousand people also marched with flags before the game.
Spain has seen major protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks.
Bilbao was the site of the first of a series of large protests against an Israeli-owned cycling team at the Spanish Vuelta in September.
The Basque team included players from Athletic and Real Sociedad, along with other professional sides. None of Spain's footballers were available because they were playing a World Cup qualifier.
Spanish PM calls for Israel to be barred from international sport
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© France 24
02:13
The Palestinian team will also take on a selection of players from Spain's northeastern Catalonia region in Barcelona on Tuesday.
Most of the team's players have never set foot in Gaza. Some play in Qatar, one in Chile, in Iceland, or in the United States.
The players are the last representatives of Palestinian football, devastated at all levels by two years of Israeli bombardment, which Spain's government describes as genocide.
Since then, there has been no league, no functioning clubs, and hundreds of athletes have been wounded or killed, including the country's most famous footballer, Suleiman Al-Obeid, 41, nicknamed the "Palestinian Pélé".
The Palestine Football Association said he was killed when Israel attacked civilians waiting for humanitarian aid.
"From day one, they targeted sports. They destroyed all the infrastructure in Gaza, 289 (locations) in total," Palestinian Football Federation president Jibril Rajoub said.
"1,100 athletes, employees, coaches, and referees have been killed, including our captain (Al-Obeid)," said Rajoub, who is also the secretary-general of Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. "Thousands have been injured, hundreds of others are missing."
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
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