A decade of Lajee Celtic: The Palestinian club whose fans include Cantona

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Lajee Celtic, a grassroots football club based in Aida refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, marked its 10th anniversary at a gathering in east London in September. The celebration drew nearly 200 people and highlighted how the club has grown from a local sports project into a wider symbol of solidarity among pro-Palestinian supporters.

According to the article, the club emerged through ties between camp organizers and supporters of Celtic FC in Scotland and Ireland. Those connections deepened after Celtic fans displayed Palestinian flags during a 2016 Champions League match against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, which led UEFA to fine the club. Supporters then launched a campaign to channel solidarity into funding for Palestinian projects, including a football academy in Aida Camp.

The report says Lajee Celtic now brings together young Palestinians from refugee camps and towns around Bethlehem, Hebron and Jerusalem, while also expanding into other sports such as boxing and table tennis. The club has entered organized competition for the first time, including the Thousand Martyrs Cup, after earlier plans were disrupted when league play was cancelled following the war in Gaza. The article also places the club in a wider context of Palestinian sports facing severe disruption, while noting that grassroots clubs remain important to the pipeline for the national team.