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Gaza hosts its own World Cup

The world cup is still a month away, but reports coming from Gaza would have us believe that the final has been won by France over a plucky Jordanian team.

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Source: SBS, CNN


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The world cup is still a month away, but reports coming from Gaza would have us believe that the final has been won by France in front of 20,000 screaming fans over a plucky Jordanian team.

The Gaza World Cup Final beamed into millions of homes via Al Jazeera has been played in the tiny enclave.

Passionate about football but cut off from the world, the Gaza Strip has its own World Cup, a popular initiative aimed at forcing a lifting of the Israeli blockade.

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The 16 team two week tournament culminated Saturday with the field narrowed down to France and Jordan.

The idea for the tournament was the brain child of American aid worker Patrick McGrann and a Palestinian colleague.

“There were a lot of us who were offended that Gaza is not allowed to participate with the rest of the world whether its diplomacy whether its schooling, whether its education of whether it's sports. So we chose to try and come up with something special and in this case a Gaza world cup. The rest of the world gets a world cup we though Gaza should get one too.” McGrann told CNN.


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