Palestinian Soccer Team in Chile Still Grips Imagination


Posted on YouTube: May 2023
(You have to watch it on YouTube)

Another fascinating video from Chile about the soccer (futbol) team, CD Palestino. It has been an international sensation.

The fans of CD Palestino (Palestinian Sports Club) affectionately call themselves Baisanos because their ancestors, who came to Chile 100 years ago called themselves countrymen, which is Spanish is paisano, only, being Arab in origin, they mispronounced the p as B, hence Baisanos.

At one time, the team members were required to be of Palestinian origins, but that is no longer required.

The fan base include a lot of non-Arab aficionados.

The video (which you have to click to watch on YouTube itself) shows that the team in Chile has become a sort of unofficial national team for the Palestinians in the Mideast. But there are issues. The Chilean team sponsors gender equality which does not go over so well in the repressed Islamic region.