Full Breakdown
Lajee Celtic Celebrates Ten Years of Grassroots Football and International Solidarity
By Drooid · · How we work
Origins and Growth
Lajee Celtic began as a football project in Aida Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, after a 2012 visit by director Mohammed al-Azzeh to Glasgow sparked talks about a football academy. By 2015 a group of camp players travelled to Belfast for a match, and the 2016 UEFA Champions League draw—when Celtic faced Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva—prompted Celtic ultras to display Palestinian flags, leading to a UEFA fine and the “Match The Fine For Palestine” campaign. The club’s first entry into organized competition was delayed for three years when the Palestinian league was cancelled after the Gaza war that began in October 2023. In 2025 the team played friendlies in Cape Town, South Africa, marking its first travel beyond West Bank checkpoints.
Impact and Reach
Lajee Celtic now fields players from villages around Bethlehem, refugee camps, and communities in Hebron and Jerusalem, and competes in the Thousand Martyrs Cup, named for the 1,014 athletes killed in Gaza since October 2023. Founder Martin, who traveled from Glasgow for the September celebration in London, says the club’s shirts fund youth sports and development across Palestine, while also serving as visible solidarity symbols worn in Glasgow, London, New York and elsewhere.
Official Perspectives
Mohammed al-Azzeh, director of the Lajee Centre, calls the 2016 stadium protest “a pivotal moment” that propelled the club’s growth. Coordinator Samir al-Amir, who spent 19 years in Israeli prisons, experienced his first sea view during the 2025 South African friendlies, a moment al-Azzeh says would not have happened “without Lajee Celtic.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “I don’t think anyone would really have expected that the project would have been as successful as it’s been,” — Hannah Einbinder. Martin
- “Fundraising campaigns come and go all the time. But when you create a football club and when you have that sort of tangible idea at the heart of it, then you are creating a journey,” — Martin. Mohammed al