1928 Palestine Cup

Organized football in Mandatory Palestine predated the 1928 season by several years. Cup tournaments among British, Jewish, and Arab teams were reportedly played regularly from 1921 onward.[1] The first reported Palestine football cup final took place on 10 April 1923, although the cited account does not identify the participating teams or give the result.[3]

The late 1920s brought significant institutional change. The departure of most British football teams may have helped motivate the establishment of a national league in 1928, after Hebrew clubs increasingly played against one another.[3] That year, the Eretz Israel Football Association was founded at Egypt's suggestion.[2] FIFA recognition required the inclusion of all population groups in the country, and league matches were held among British, Arab, and Jewish teams.[2]

The Palestine Football Association, established in 1928, was the first national sports federation in Palestine.[4] It included British, Jewish, and Arab teams and was the only organization in which the rival Maccabi and Ha-Poel sports movements cooperated until after the establishment of the State of Israel.[4]

A historical account identifies the cup competition held during the 1928–29 season as the Ragheb Nashashibi Cup, named after Jerusalem's Arab mayor Ragheb Nashashibi.[1] It reports that Hapoel Jerusalem won that competition but does not provide the final score, opposing finalist, venue, match dates, or complete list of participating clubs.[1]

The account places the tournament in the period when a unified soccer association for Mandatory Palestine was established and a combined national team was formed with British, Jewish, and Arab players.[1] This shared structure did not last: in 1931, soccer competitions were divided between the Eretz Israel Soccer Association and the Arab Palestine Sports Federation.[1]

The cited historical account links the decline of friendly Jewish-Arab soccer competition to the period following the 1929 massacre of Jews in Hebron and the Arab revolt of 1936.[1] It characterizes mixed Jewish-Arab matches as absent from the field from that period until 1948.[1]

The historical record contains unresolved questions about the competition's identity. The topic is designated the "1928 Palestine Cup," but the available account calls the 1928–29 competition the Ragheb Nashashibi Cup; it does not explicitly establish that the two names refer to the same event.[1] The season is also given as 1928–29 rather than as a single calendar year.

Separately, the National Library of Israel dates the first reported Palestine football cup final to 10 April 1923, five years before 1928, without identifying the teams or result.[3] The available approved sources do not provide a complete bracket, match dates, final score, opposing finalist, or venue for the 1928–29 competition.[3][1]