Club Deportivo Palestino, commonly known as Palestino, is a unique football team playing in Chile’s top football league, the Primera División de Chile, distinguished by their uniforms of white, green, and red, and their open support for Palestinian identity and causes. Despite being based in Chile, the team serves as a significant cultural and diplomatic symbol for the Palestinian diaspora, which is the largest outside of the Middle East, numbering around 500,000 people.

The story of Palestino is intertwined with the history of Palestinian immigration to Chile, which began in the 1850s due to the Crimean War. Subsequent waves of immigrants arrived before and during World War I to escape Ottoman conscription and again after the Nakba in 1948, when 700,000 Palestinians were displaced. These immigrants often faced severe racism and were derogatorily called “turcos” (Turks) due to their origins from the Ottoman Empire.

Palestino was founded in 1916 as an amateur team in Santiago, Chile’s capital, by the burgeoning Palestinian community. The club went professional in 1952, and its current stadium, La Cisterna, inaugurated in 1988, serves as a cultural hub for Palestinians in Chile.

Unlike other diaspora-founded clubs like Audux Italiano (by Italians) and Club Unión Española (by Spaniards), Palestino wields significant political influence. The Palestinian community in Chile has historically influenced the nation’s policies towards Palestine, uniting various political factions. Chile abstained from the 1947 UN vote to partition Palestine and, in 2011, under conservative President Sebastian Piñera, recognized the state of Palestine. In 2019, Piñera visited the Temple Mount with Palestinian officials, and in 2022, left-wing President Gabriel Boric announced plans to open a Chilean embassy in Palestine.

Palestino has built strong ties with Palestinian leaders and communities. Yasser Arafat sent a supportive letter to the club in 2003, and Mahmoud Abbas has written to the club on multiple occasions. The club’s major sponsor since 2010 has been the Bank of Palestine, which even organized a tour of the West Bank for Palestino’s youth teams in 2013. Palestino also facilitated live broadcasts of their matches for fans in Ramallah.

Despite their contributions and support, Palestino has faced controversy. In 2014, the club was fined for including a map of pre-1948 Palestine on their kit, replacing squad numbers, which led to complaints from Chile’s Jewish community and the Israeli government. Nevertheless, Palestino remains a vocal supporter of the Palestinian state.

The saying “every town in Chile must have a priest, a policeman, and a Palestinian” reflects the deep integration and influence of the Palestinian community in Chile. Palestino’s matches serve as platforms for solidarity, mourning, and celebration of the Chilean-Palestinian identity, especially as the conflict in Gaza continues.