Palestinian-American kids find inspiration, and escape, on the soccer pitch : NPR

Omar Almashni during an evening practice with the Palestino Soccer Academy at Frank D Zaccaria Memorial Park in Woodland Park, New Jersey, on Saturday, June 6, 2026.

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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?”

Taim Nadin participates in an evening practice at Frank D Zaccaria Memorial Park in Woodland Park, NJ, on June 6, 2026.

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“All I care about is God and soccer,” says Taim Nadin. The 13-year-old, originally from Qatar, practices with the club, which serves kids of all backgrounds but is anchored around New Jersey’s Palestinian-American community.

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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.

Coach Omar Abdulaziz leads a practice with the Palestino Soccer Academy. He says the sport gives kids a moment to detach from the realities of suffering and conflict.

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Noah Abdo holds a Palestine pendent during an evening practice with the Palestino Soccer Academy at Frank D Zaccaria Memorial Park in Woodland Park, NJ, on June 6, 2026.

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“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.

A mural of Lamine Yamal on a destroyed building in Gaza on June 15, 2026.

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“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.