Not Allowed to Win: Exclusionary Policies Towards Palestinian Athletes

Palestine has successfully used sport as a tool for gaining international recognition, for example by becoming a member of FIFA and participating in the Olympic Games. Football teams in the diaspora such as Club Deportivo Palestino in Chile have been major vehicles for Palestinian identity. But sport also reflects the difficulties Palestinians face in everyday life, for example by having to run separate championships in Gaza and the West Bank. This talk will give an overview of relevant political issues around Palestinian sport before focusing on presenting a case study on Palestinian athletes living in Lebanon and the discriminations they are facing due to their statelessness. CCAS, in partnership with the Sports Industry Management Program at Georgetown, are pleased to host Dr. Danyel Reiche. 

Danyel Reiche is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for International and Regional Studies or CIRS, and a Visiting Associate Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar. At GU-Q, he has led research projects related to sports in the Middle East. In collaboration with Paul Brannagan, he co-authored the book Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change (published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022), and teaches a cross-campus class, including students from both the hilltop and Doha, on “Soccer Politics.” Before joining GU-Q, Danyel was a tenured Associate Professor for Comparative Politics at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, and also held the position of a Visiting Assistant Professor for Energy and International Affairs at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

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