# Club Deportivo Palestino

Club Deportivo Palestino is a professional football club based in the city of Santiago, Chile and plays in the Primera División de Chile.

## History

The club was founded on 8 August 1920, when they participated in a colonial competition in Osorno.
It was founded by a group of Palestinians; the name of the club reflects the origin in Chile's Palestinian community.
According to American historian Brenda Elsey,
   "Leaders of the Arab immigrant community who hoped to find a niche within popular culture for their organizations decided to participate in football once again in 1940s".

### Beginnings in professional football

In 1952, the Football Federation of Chile set up the first professional leagues.
Palestino was accepted into the Second Division, which they won to attain promotion to the Primera División.

### 1955 title

In 1955, the club won their first national championship under the coaching of Argentine captain Roberto Coll.
In that era, the club became known by the nickname millonario (Millionaire) because of their ability to attract top class footballers.

### 1978−present

In 1978, the club won their second league title, this time the team was led by Chilean captain Elías Figueroa.
In this campaign they set a new record in the domestic tournament, for the number of games unbeaten and soon won the Copa Chile to claim the league and cup double.
In 2004, the club became a registered company, but the change of status did not bring the expected improvement in results.
In 2006 they finished in 18th place out of 20 teams, forcing them to face a play-off against Fernandez Vial to keep their place in the top flight. Ultimately the club would triumph thus preserving their spot within the Chilean first division.
The club made a surprising run to the final of the Clausura 2008 tournament, where they lost to champions Colo-Colo. Following this success, the club intends to float on the Chilean and Palestinian stock exchanges.

## Club image
### Motto

   "More than a team, it is an entire people."
   (Spanish: "Más que un equipo, todo un pueblo.")

### Colours

Mimicking the Flag of Palestine, the club's traditional colors have been red, green and black.

### Support

Not only from Palestinians in Chile, Palestino has also attracted the support from Gaza sympathisers in the country and are considered as the "second national team" of Palestine.

## Rivalries

Palestino have rivalries with other immigrant-founded Santiago clubs in the Chilean Primera División, mainly Unión Española (founded by Spanish immigrants) and Audax Italiano (founded by Italian immigrants).
These games are known as the "Diaspora Derby" (Spanish: Clásico de Colonias).

## Incident
### 2014 jersey ban

In January 2014, Palestino was fined the equivalent of $1,300 for using a new team jersey in the club's traditional colors, but with the number one in the squad numbers on the back shaped as the map of Palestine prior to the creation of Israel in 1948.
Jewish communities in Chile and the Israeli government complained about the political significance of this, with a formal complaint to their national Federation being made by Patrick Kiblisky, owner of first-division club Ñublense.
The jerseys were said to have been first used in December 2013, although the club said they were used in the prior season.
The federation banned the club from using the map on the back of the shirts and imposed a fine on the club on the grounds that the Federation is opposed to "any form of political, religious, sexual, ethnic, social or racial discrimination".
On its Facebook page, the club stated:
   "For us, free Palestine will always be historical Palestine, nothing less."

## Honours
### National

* Primera División
** Winners (2): 1955, 1978
* Copa Chile
** Winners (3): 1975, 1977, 2018
* Primera B
** Winners (2): 1952, 1972

## Performance in CONMEBOL competitions

* Copa Libertadores: 7 appearances
       1976: Group Stage
       1978: Group Stage
       1979: Semi-finals
       2015: Group Stage
       2019: Group Stage
       2020: Third Qualifying Stage
       2024: Group Stage
* Copa Sudamericana: 7 appearances
       2016: Quarter-finals
       2017: Second Stage
       2019: Second Stage
       2021: Group Stage
       2023: Group Stage
       2024: Round of 16
       2025: TBD

## Current squad
### First Team squad

    As of 31 January 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | CHI | Sebastián Salas (on loan from A.C. Barnechea) |
| 2 | DF | CHI | Vicente Espinoza |
| 4 | DF | CHI | Antonio Ceza |
| 5 | MF | ARG | Julián Fernández |
| 6 | FW | CHI | Nicolás Meza |
| 7 | FW | CHI | Bryan Carrasco (captain) |
| 8 | MF | CHI | Pablo Parra |
| 9 | FW | URU | Facundo Castro |
| 10 | MF | CHI | Ariel Martínez |
| 11 | MF | ARG | Jonathan Benítez |
| 12 | GK | ARG | Ricardo Patiño |
| 13 | DF | CHI | Cristián Suárez |
| 14 | MF | CHI | Joe Abrigo |
| 15 | MF | CHI | Francisco Montes |
| 16 | DF | CHI | José Bizama |
| 17 | DF | ARG | Mateo Martín |
| 18 | FW | URU | Junior Arias |
| 19 | FW | CHI | Martín Araya |
| 20 | FW | CHI | Gonzalo Tapia |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | FW | CHI | Benjamín Araneda |
| 21 | MF | CHI | Benjamín Soto |
| 23 | DF | CHI | Jason León |
| 25 | GK | CHI | Sebastián Pérez |
| 26 | GK | CHI | Dixon Contreras |
| 27 | FW | PAR | Junior Marabel (on loan from Unión Santa Fe) |
| 28 | DF | CHI | Dilan Zúñiga |
| 29 | DF | CHI | Ian Garguez |
| 30 | FW | CHI | Alenjadro Hales |
| 31 | FW | CHI | Benjamín Riquelme |
| 32 | FW | CHI | Matías Jiménez |
| 33 | MF | CHI | Christián Mansilla |
| 34 | GK | CHI | Pablo Lagos |
| 35 | FW | CHI | José Palma |
| — | GK | CHI | Gabriel Fuentes |
| — | DF | CHI | Benjamín Rojas |
| — | DF | CHI | Alan Riquelme |
| — | MF | CHI | Dilan Salgado |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |

## Sponsors

Companies that Club Deportivo Palestino currently has sponsorship deals with include:
* Bank of Palestine
* Capelli Sport
* Alegrebet
* UAZ

## Former coaches

* Luis Tirado (1952)
* Antonio Ciraolo (1953)
* Boris Stefanović (1955–57)
* Antonio de Mare (1958–59)
* Alejandro Scopelli (1960)
* Hugo Tassara (1961–62)
* José Della Torre (1963)
* Ladislao Pakozdi (1963)
* Miguel Mocciola [es] (1964)
* José Valdebenito (1964)
* Zezé Moreira (1964)
* Enrique Fernández (1965)
* Alejandro Scopelli (1966)
* Óscar Andrade (1967)
* Julio Baldovinos (1967)
* Adolfo Rodríguez [es] (1968–69)
* Sergio Lecea (1969)
* Isaac Carrasco (1970)
* Héctor Ortega (1970)
* Dante Pesce (1971)
* Alejandro Scopelli (1971)
* Adolfo Rodríguez [es] (1972)
* Humberto Díaz (1972)
* Néstor Isella (1973)
* Humberto Díaz (1973)
* Caupolicán Peña (1974–76)
* Fernando Riera (1977)
* Caupolicán Peña (1977–80)
* Gustavo Cortés [es] (1980)
* Mario Tuane (1980–81)
* Gustavo Cortés [es] (1981–83)
* Sasha Mitjaew (1984)
* Elson Beiruth (1984)
* Gustavo Cortés [es] (1984–85)
* Víctor Manuel Castañeda (1986)
* Orlando Aravena (1986–87)
* Víctor Manuel Castañeda (1988)
* Luis Ibarra (1988)
* Eugenio Jara (1988–89)
* Orlando Aravena (1989)
* Víctor Manuel Castañeda (1989)
* Guillermo Duarte (1990)
* Manuel Pellegrini (1990)
* Jorge Zelada (1991)
* Manuel Pellegrini (1991–92)
* Fernando Cavalleri (1992)
* Gustavo Cortés [es] (1992–93)
* Ricardo Dabrowski (1993)
* José Sulantay (1994)
* Elías Figueroa (1994–95)
* Germán Cornejo (1995–96)
* Orlando Aravena (1996)
* Jorge Aravena (1996–97)
* Manuel Pellegrini (1998)
* Juan Carlos Carotti [es] (1998)
* Ricardo Dabrowski (1998–01)
* Fernando Carvallo (2002)
* Daniel Salvador (2003)
* Nicola Hadwa (2004)
* Ricardo Toro (interim) (2004)
* Horacio Rivas [es] (2004–05)
* Fernando Carvallo (2005)
* Daniel Salvador (2006)
* Jaime Pizarro (2006–07)
* Jorge Aravena (2007)
* Luis Musrri (2007–09)
* Jorge Aravena (2009–10)
* Jaime Escobar (interim) (2010)
* Gustavo Benítez (2010–11)
* José Daniel Carreño (2012)
* Emiliano Astorga (2012–14)
* Jaime Escobar (interim) (2014)
* Pablo Guede (2014–16)
* Nicolás Córdova (2016–2017)
* Omar Toloza (interim) (2017)
* Germán Cavalieri [es] (2017–18)
* Sebastián Méndez (2018)
* Ivo Basay (2018–2020)
* José Luis Sierra (2020-2021)
* Patricio Graff (2021)
* Gustavo Costas (2022)
* Vitamina Sánchez (2023-2024)
* Jorge Schwager (interim) (2024)

## Women's team

The Palestino women's team plays in the Campeonato Nacional Primera División de Fútbol Femenino, the top women's football competition in Chile.
In 2015 they won the Clausura tournament, thus ending a ten-season title streak by Colo-Colo. The captain, Ashraf Khatib, lifted the title. She was quoted as saying it was a pleasure to be the first actual Palestinian woman to lift the title in Chile.
Former Palestino forward María José Urrutia was a member of the Chile women's national football team for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. With a header against Thailand in Chile's 2–0 win in the group stage, she became the first Chilean player to score a goal in the FIFA Women's World Cup.
Former Palestino defender Javiera Toro was also a member of the Chilean team at the 2019 tournament.