Wadi al-Nes was once an unknown village on top of a hill south of Bethlehem, sandwiched between the Israeli separation wall and an illegal Israeli settlement. It had a population of less than a thousand, including hundreds of boys who had nothing else to do but play street football.

But when Yousef Abuhammad, the patriarch of the village, founded a football club called Taraji Wadi al-Nes in 1984, he had no idea he was putting his tiny village on the regional map. He had 12 sons who all played for the team which worked their way up the lower leagues to become Palestinian Premier League champions.