PATERSON, NJ – It was a sweltering Saturday evening in Passaic County, in Northern New Jersey, when a team of about 60 kids took to the soccer field, flushed and dripping sweat. For these young athletes training just a short commute from the FIFA NY/NJ Stadium, the sport is an outlet for big dreams and big emotions.
"I'm telling you, without soccer the world has no meaning," said Taim Nadin, during a quick water break.
"Without soccer in life there's nothing. If I didn't play soccer, I'd be nothing, right?"
It's a heavy sentiment for a 13-year-old, but one shared by many of the players here, who train as Palestino Soccer Academy, a youth club built around Northern New Jersey's large Palestinian-American community.
Coach Omar Abdulaziz said the club, which now serves children of all backgrounds, began three years ago as a way to teach about soccer in Palestinian culture and address the impact the conflict in Gaza was having on some of the kids.
"We could hear their frustrations, they were emotionally unwell," said Abdulaziz in Spanish. He could relate, having moved from the West Bank to Puerto Rico as a teenager in the 1980s.
"Soccer, to us, is a moment to disconnect, a moment of tranquility, a moment to detach from the suffering of reality," he explained.
The Palestinian national soccer team did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. In Gaza, training and playing has been made impossible. Palestinian officials told NPR that 90% of the sports infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, and 450 people involved in the sport, including athletes, coaches, referees, and soccer officials, have been killed in Israeli attacks.
The boys in New Jersey have found other teams and star players to root for, especially Lamine Yamal, the 18-year-old striker for Spain.
"When he gets on the pitch he forgets about everything and just focuses on the game, on the players, on how they play," rhapsodized 14-year-old Obaida Al Amleh.
It's not just Yamal's sportsmanship that these kids admire. Yamal, the child of immigrants to Spain, recently took a vocal stance about anti-Muslim chants at Spanish soccer games, and when his club, FC Barcelona, won Spain's La Liga championship in Spain last month, the star player waved a Palestinian flag during the celebratory parade. The video went viral, and photos of the moment live on as wallpaper on many of the New Jersey boys' cellphones.
"I thought it was very special for the people who are going through the worst right now," said Obaida, who was born in the West Bank and spent part of his childhood there. He says five of his close family friends were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
The day he got the news, Obaida remembers, there was no official soccer practice scheduled, but he needed to work out his emotions on the field.
"You can ball in the pitch, or you can bawl at home, I guess," he said.
So he called up some teammates and "we just came here, and balled out. We just kept playing and playing for hours straight."
It's always on his mind, he said, but soccer helps him process.
NPR's Anas Baba contributed to this report from Gaza.
Copyright 2026 NPR
