Leicester duo celebrate FA Cup win with Palestine flag

Young English and French players show their support of Palestine at Wembley

Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana with a Palestinian flag after their FA Cup final win over Chelsea. Photograph: Twitter
Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana with a Palestinian flag after their FA Cup final win over Chelsea. Photograph: Twitter

Leicester City players Hamza Choudhury and Wesley Fofana celebrated their team's FA Cup final win with a Palestine flag at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The final was played amid rising tensions and horrific violence in Gaza, and as thousands protested on the streets of Dublin and other major cities worldwide in support of Palestine.

The 23 year-old Choudhury, a former England Under-21 international, came on in the final 10 minutes as Fofana played a key role in the heart of the Leicester defence. The 20 year-old has represented the French Under-21 team on three occasions.

City beat Chelsea 1-0 in a stunning upset to win the FA Cup. The Foxes hadn't reached an FA Cup final since 1969, and had never won the competition. Youri Tielemans scored the only goal of the match to an eruption of cheers from the crowd of 21,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

At least 140 people have been killed by Israeli forces since Monday, including 39 children and 21 women, Palestinian medical officials said. Israel has reported 10 dead.

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Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue

Eamon Donoghue is a former Irish Times journalist