Life of a Palestinian international in Gaza: “Football is buried under the rubble, like children”

Ahmed Kollab's story: "The stadium is now an open-air prison, we only live to find food and water"

ROME – Ahmed Kollab was a Palestinian national, born in the Gaza Strip. On October 7, 2023, he became just a Palestinian. Football is buried under the rubble of war. There are no more stadiums, players, coaches. “We fight to survive, to find food and water”, tells in an exclusive interview with So Foot. “The lives of football players have become the same as those of other Gazans.”

“Before all this we lived quite well off our passion, even if it wasn’t comparable to that of footballers in the rest of the world. The siege of Gaza and the Israeli occupation have always placed obstacles, especially administrative ones, in our path of footballers. Our salary remained very modest, but sufficient for those who live in Gaza with their families. The beautiful thing about football was that it provided an escape for all the players and fans in Gaza.”

“It has simply become impossible to play football. There is no space left to do so, all sports buildings and stadiums have been destroyed. The Yarmouk stadium was by far one of the best sports infrastructures in the region. The Israeli occupiers they completelydestroyed it with missiles, then razed it to the ground with bulldozers to turn it into an open-air prison.”

“Many players, referees and coaches I knew died in the bombings. Like Hani Al-Masdar, who trained me with the Olympic selection. In Gaza everyone faces death every day, come on < a href="https://www.dire.it/24-06-2024/1056952-gaza-l alarm-da-october-21mila-children-are-missing-in-the-north-altri-2-die-of- hunger/">younger children to older people. No one is spared”.

Kollab managed to leave the Strip recently. “It’s almost a miracle to get out of the Gaza Strip. Many try without success, because all the border crossings are closed. I had to pay 5,000 dollars that I had borrowed from several people. I had to abandon my family< /strong>, because with this amount only one person can cross the border into Egypt through the tunnels. My family and friends no longer have Internet, but I can communicate with them once every two weeks. It’s horrible, really horrible”.