When Spain take the field at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium for their Euro 2024 final against England on Sunday, they will be cheered on by millions of fans around the world.
More than 3,500km (2,175 miles) from Spain, football fans in Gaza will wholeheartedly back Alvaro Morata and his men.
The people in the war-torn Strip will back their Spanish friends against England after the European nation voiced strong support for Palestinians since the early days of the ongoing Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Omar Ghayyad, a 36-year-old mathematics teacher with UNRWA – the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees – and his brother Mohammed have faced displacement three times during Israel’s 10-month-long war on the territory.
Eight of their relatives, including Omar’s two daughters, were killed when their house in the Nusairat Refugee Camp was flattened by Israeli bombardment in the first few months into the war.
Amid the ineffable pain of loss and the struggles of continuous displacement, the Ghayyad brothers along with their friends and relatives seek respite in football.
Both brothers are avid fans of the Real Madrid football club and tried to stay abreast of their favourite team’s exploits in the Spanish and European leagues from their makeshift tent in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Now, with Spain on the precipice of success, they have turned their support towards La Roja in Euro 2024.