Lajee Celtic — how a UEFA fine became a Palestinian football club
In 2016, Celtic FC were fined €10,000 by UEFA after the Green Brigade raised Palestinian flags during a Champions League match against Hapoel Be'er Sheva — the ultras group responded with a fundraising campaign that collected over £172,000, split evenly between Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Lajee Centre in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem. That money founded what became Lajee Celtic: a club with three teams, a pitch surrounded by resistance murals, and players who spent hours cleaning around 150 teargas bombs off the pitch before training after an army raid. The name means 'refugee' in Arabic, and the club was deliberately renamed from Aida Celtic so it would be open to all Palestinians, not just residents of one camp. UEFA punished a gesture of solidarity with a fine; the fine became a football club.