Football is the world’s number one sport and it is by far and away the most popular sport amongst the 12 million Palestinians in Palestine and across the world.
The Canaan Football Club project aims to create an iconic club to represent those people and supporters of the Palestinian cause. We will do this vis-a-vis the acquisition of an existing club and rebranding the new entity as as Canaan Football Club.
There exists two leagues in Historic Palestine. The Palestinian league which competes in Asian (AFC) competitions and the Israeli league which competes in European competitions (including the UEFA Champions League). The European competitions offer more prize money, TV revenue, and publicity making the Israeli league more attractive for this type of strategic investment. This, along with issues related to corruption, transparency, and ease of movement make an investment in Historic Palestine more attractive than one in the West Bank.
There also exists a need for such an entity for Palestinian footballers plying their trade on the other side of the Green Line. Consider that nearly 40% of the 221 clubs in the Israeli footballing pyramid are situated in Palestinian towns and localities but their presence in the top tier is a rarity.
Only four clubs have appeared in the top flight but none have the ability to remain and compete for silverware alongside better financed Jewish teams.
Moreover, there are no long-term financial, sporting, or cultural goals and clubs that do get promoted are battling almost certain relegation. Many of clubs have failed to fully embrace Palestinian iconography. Their club crests and colors lack character and nearly all use Hebrew prefixes of Hapoel and Maccabi before their name.
Our project aims to fill this void and build something truly special.