JENIN (Palestine) - The fans in Jenin could not stop celebrating.

They had been cheering and dancing through what seemed like every second of the past two Palestine games in the FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers and now that their team won both games, there was really no reason to stop.

The players skipped over to their family, loved ones and friends in the stands. Hugs and handshakes were given and taken, left and right. Selfies were taken, whether it was fans with players and even just fans with other fans.

Playing for the home crowd

This might have been only the first two wins of the First Round in the Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, but for Palestinian basketball fans, this felt like everything. With that much passion oozing from the stands, the players felt it, too.

"It felt great to play in front of our fans," said 29-year-old Ahmed Haroon. "I’ve been with the national team for 8 years and this is the first time that we’ve been able to host an entire tournament."

Palestine had previously hosted a historic game against Sri Lanka during the Asia Cup 2022 Qualifiers, the first time a FIBA event was held in Palestine. However, over the past 3 days in these Asia Cup 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, Palestine made the next step in hosting an entire group of competition.

"For everything that’s been going on in the country, it was really a big deal for us to be able to play in front of the fans and give them something to be happy about. I know how much this has meant to them and I really thank them for the experience."

Playing at home will always be a moment to remember for any player to have played for the national team and playing in Palestine for this group of national team players is not an exception.

"The experience is really different than playing anywhere in the world, especially playing in Palestine, in Jenin," added team veteran Tamer Habash. "This gives a lot of motivation and a lot of power. That’s why we play hard and why we fight through that."

Winning for the home crowd

Not only did Palestine play in front of their fans; they won in front of their fans. And in exciting fashion.

In two games, Palestine played against solid teams in Iraq and Kuwait. In both games, Palestine found themselves down by a sizable margin in the second half and trailing to start the fourth quarter.

Every single time, Palestine came roaring back in those final 10 minutes and went on to win.

"We came here just to win," said Habash, who scored 14 points in the win against Kuwait. "Our mentality was just to win. We’re playing at home so we just focused. We played as a team, we fought till the end. We were playing on our home court with amazing fans and you can’t lose in front of these amazing fans."

In the first game against Iraq, Palestine outscored their opponents 30-14 in the final quarter. In their second game, Palestine outscored Kuwait 28-17 in the final interval. It is never easy to prove how much effect playing at home has on a team, but watching these two games would be a good start for a research.

"The fans played a huge role, they were very loud," said Haroon, the small forward that averaged 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per contest across both games.

"As soon as we lost the momentum, they helped us gain the momentum back. I think without them, we wouldn’t have won. I’m really thankful for the fans and I’m really happy that we can give them something to cheer about and lift up the country."

Developing for the future

The Palestine national team that fans saw in these two games of the Pre-Qualifiers were different than what they saw through the Asia Cup Qualifiers over the past 2 years. The major change is the absence of the retired Sani Sakakini, who had starred for the national team for many years.

"Last time I came here, I was surrounded by a lot of superstars especially Sani," said Jamal Mayali. The 23-year-old guard was already impressive in his national team debut in the Asia Cup Qualifiers, but managed to outplay that performance with 27 points in the win over Iraq.

"Sani was a very good leader, the team was built around him and he taught me a lot. Because of that I was more of a facilitator. This year noticing that’s he’s not around, I had to step up and the other guys had to step up on the scoring aspect. We have to show that we can play as a team and that we can show the chemistry that we’ve been building."

Against Iraq, Palestine had 4 players score in double-digits. Against Kuwait, aside from having 4 players score at least 10 points, all 9 players that saw playing time had a point to their name. If the team were out to show that they can play as a team, it seems like a mission accomplished so far.

Still, these are just the first two games on a very long road that Palestine hopes will lead them back to the Asia Cup. Nonetheless, being able to come away with two big wins against two solid teams is great development in the right direction.

"This one gives us a first step in building a new national team," said Habash. "We’re playing to build the national team for the next 10 years and we’re trying to do whatever we can to manage these young guys to become experienced players."

FIBA