He is a teammate of Joselu Mato, Sergio Rico and Álvaro Djaló at Al-Gharafa SC in Qatar. It was also the same for James Rodríguez, with whom he has an excellent relationship, at Al Rayyan. Looking back even further, he shared the dressing room with Unai Simón, Unai Núñez, Asier Villlalibre and Iñigo Córdoba. He did it in Lezama, where Yaser Hamed (Leioa, 28 years old) dreamed of becoming a footballer for Athletic’s first team. This Saturday he will defend the colors of Palestine against the Euskadi team in San Mamés (8.30pm, ETB 1), one of the “most special” days of a career that has taken him to play in Bahrain, Egypt and Qatar.
“These are very intense days, both on a personal and collective level,” he confesses. Pride and concern mix in the player’s eyes. “My family is there and is suffering from all this. Some family members have died. It’s very difficult,” he says. His father, Ahmad, was born in Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip, a city devastated by Israeli bombing. At the age of 17 he arrived in Spain and studied Medicine “in Spanish”, despite not knowing the language. He lived first in Madrid and then in Bizkaia, where he met Ana, his wife, a Basque woman with whom he had 5 children in Leioa, very close to Bilbao, including Yaser.
“It will be a historic day for us and for the whole world,” says Yaser Hamed. “It is the first time that the Palestinian team plays in Europe and it does so in such a beautiful stadium, so emblematic and with so much history… We are excited. The most important thing is the objective of the match, to defend the Palestinian cause. We hope to experience a historic day”, explains the footballer, who in addition to Bilbao will play next Tuesday against Catalonia at the Lluís Companys (6.30pm, 3Cat).
It is a match, obviously, that goes beyond sport. “We are a small representation of the entire Palestinian people and we want to give a voice to all these people. We have the responsibility to bring some happiness to the Palestinians. For them, football is very important, it brings a smile to their faces about the barbarity they have experienced. We hope that this is a before and an after and that, once and for all, the genocide ends”, he asks.
Yaser Hamed began writing his footballing story at Leioa, from where he moved to Athletic to continue it in Biscay football, before receiving a call that changed his destiny. “When they told me I was no longer at Athletic it was a hard blow, perhaps one of the biggest blows of my life, sportingly speaking,” admits the current Al-Gharafa player. It happened when he was 15 years old and the person in charge of breaking the news to him was a former player like Aitor Larrazabal. Thus began his pilgrimage through Biscay football. Arenas de Getxo, Gallarta and Portugalete, where he received a call that was hard to believe. It was Noereddine Ould Ali, the coach of Palestine. “I didn’t expect it. In fact, I didn’t expect it because I didn’t know they had information about me. It happened and here we are,” he thanks. His debut could not have been more symbolic: “I had a two-week retreat and then went to the West Asian Cup in Iraq. I was a starter. The coach had asked me to review the anthem, because at that time I didn’t know Arabic well. We won 1-0 and with my goal against Yemen”, he recalls proudly. From there, his life was intertwined between different countries. He has played in Bahrain, Egypt, India, Kuwait and Qatar. “Each country taught me something different. I learned to adapt, value what I have and never give up,” he says.
His father Ahmad, his hero
When he talks about his father, his voice cracks. “I always get emotional when I talk about him, he’s a fighter. He’s my idol,” he says. His arrival in Bilbao occurred when he was 17 years old. “He went first to Madrid and then to Leioa. He studied medicine without knowing Spanish and studied it in Spanish. For me it is something incredible and very difficult. It is something worthy of admiration. My parents are everything. I am very proud of them, of how hard they worked. Now they are retired, but they raised a family with five children, giving us everything we needed. Hats off,” he adds.
The love for football was instilled in him by his parents helpa fan of this beautiful sport. In fact he too has taken his first steps. “He always tells me the same story, which I don’t know to what extent it is true because my father always tries to surprise. He told me that they called him to do tests for Rayo Vallecano. His father told him ‘either you study or I won’t send you the money’. That’s why he came from Madrid to Euskadi to study and he had to abandon football, but he has always had it as his favorite sport. He loves football very much, but above all he loves his children very much”, Yaser clarifies.
One of his priorities, he says, is to be able to visit Gaza with his father when the war is over. “I have never been there. Yes, to the West Bank and to Ramallah and when I went, I was reminded a lot of my father. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I would like to go with him one day to visit my whole family. It would be something very beautiful. This is another of my dreams”, confirms Yaser, who puts himself in his father’s shoes and understands the suffering he has undergone. “It’s complicated. He always watches the news, he’s always aware of everything. We have family there and bad news arrives. But we are left with that tone of hope that everything will end and they can live in peace. I hope that, with everyone’s help, his city Beit Hanun, completely razed to the ground, can be rebuilt and we can visit it with him”, fervently hopes Yaser, who will sing the Palestinian anthem again this Saturday and will do so in the stadium of his dreams, San Mamés.
