How Palestine's Wessam Abou Ali earned a head-turning move to MLS's Columbus Crew

The Guardian

2 days ago

As soon as I stepped on the field on the King Abdullah II Stadium in southeast Amman in June, Wessam Abou Ali stepped off. Palestine had just had their dreams of the 2026 World Cup ended by a last-minute Oman penalty that was as soft as they come. While some players in white fell to their knees or collapsed crying into the arms of coaching staff, the 26-year-old, with scrunched-up shorts, exited stage left to head to the United States and the global stage of the Club World Cup with Egypt's Al-Ahly, after impressing so much on the African and Asian one.
Now, after this busiest of summers, the Danish-born star has signed for Columbus Crew – a No 9 for one of MLS's best teams in need of one, and one who takes up one of the team's allotment of designated player spots, to boot.
Those designations tend to carry some weight in MLS, but pressure is not going to be an issue for one of the Middle East's newest stars. This is a player who collapsed on the pitch due to a sudden spike in heart rate in 2021 while in action for Vendsyssel FF in Denmark before waking up in an ambulance and being out of action for nine months. Within weeks of his return, he suffered another serious injury, including fractured ribs and a punctured lung. After undergoing surgery, the rangy striker admitted that he had thought about giving it all up but returned with a renewed conviction. He has been making up for lost time ever since.
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Originally from Aalborg, Denmark's fourth-largest city where his family had eventually ended up after leaving Palestine in 1948, the forward spent time in the local league before a move to Sirius in Sweden in 2023 was followed by 10 goals in 16 games. That earned a significant move in January 2024 to Al-Ahly – regarded by most as the biggest club in Africa, with demanding fans and a media dominated by impatient and critical ex-players. He made it look easy. Despite arriving in Cairo well after the Egyptian Premier League season started, Abou Ali grabbed the 2024-25 golden boot with 18 goals. As well as the individual prize, he helped the team to a league and a Caf Champions League title. In all, he managed 35 goals and 10 assists in just 57 appearances for the Red Giants. He couldn't quite help Al-Ahly to a second successive Champions League triumph, as they fell at the semi-final stage on away goals in May. There was little time to dwell on that, though, as he was off to help Palestine qualify for a first World Cup.
Abou Ali represented Denmark at the youth level but due to his obvious talent, heritage and public support of Palestine, he had long been on the radar of The Fedayeen. His debut came in 2024, at the end of the second round of World Cup qualification in Asia and Palestine's place in the third round for the first time ever, to fight it out with 17 nations for the biggest of prizes. Despite all the challenges that the team faced on the road to 2026, not least having to play every game on foreign soil due to the situation at home, that Palestine came so close to reaching the playoffs was a testament to spirit, skill and determination. 'It would be a dream to go to the World Cup,' Abou Ali said in June. 'It would mean so much to everyone.'
He quickly became the cutting edge, scoring four of the team's 10 goals in the third round, including one of the most famous strikes in Palestine's history. To get to the World Cup playoffs, only three wins from the last three group games would do. Being 1-0 down in the first of those to Iraq with just minutes to go in March was not ideal but then Abou Ali, whose physicality had caused problems all night, timed his run perfectly to meet a corner at the near post to head into the opposite side of the net. A dramatic and wildly celebrated winner soon followed.
Then it was to Kuwait on 5 June, another must-win game at the home of a team in the same situation. Palestine were already a goal to the good when Abou Ali, shorts scrunched up, stepped up to stroke home a penalty that sealed the victory to keep the dream alive for five more days, before it was ended by Oman thanks to a late spot kick.
As the Palestine FA made an official complaint to Fifa about Oman's penalty, Abou Ali was already off to the United States and the Fifa Club World Cup. For Al-Ahly, there was a perfect hat-trick against Porto, an incredible feat for a Palestinian international playing for an Egyptian club against a former European champion. Reports in Egypt talked of more and more interest and more and more bids. Al-Ahly fans took to social media to implore the star to stay and were devastated when he did not, testament to the impact that he has had on such a huge stage in a short space of time.
From Cairo to Columbus via World Cup and Club World Cup heartbreak and much more besides, Wessam Abou Ali is a major star on the planet's two biggest continents and is ready for a third. There is a sense that he is just getting started.