This study investigates the political position and role of the Palestinian sporting institution in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, exploring its interactions in confrontation with the colonial regime from the beginning of the occupation in 1967 to 1995. It traces the process of restoring institutionalised sport following occupation, monitoring the determinants of its resistive adaptation to colonial control. The study concludes that the sporting institution was among the influential national institutions that employed resistive adaptation to the occupation and worked to entrench national identity and build political awareness, and was a central player in forming the infrastructure of the Palestinian Intifada in 1987.