Gaza City ( CNN ) -- Take a soccer-crazy crowd and a traditional Palestinian opening ceremony . Add a splash of corporate sponsorship , and sprinkle in some black-clad , gun-toting security . What you 're left with is the World Cup of soccer -- Gaza style . The 16-team , two-week tournament culminated Saturday with the field narrowed down to France and Jordan . The idea for the contest was the brainchild of American aid worker Patrick McGrann and a Palestinian colleague . `` There were a lot of us who were offended that Gaza is not allowed to participate with the rest of the world -- whether it 's diplomacy , whether it 's schooling , whether it 's education or whether it 's sports , '' McGrann said . `` So we chose to try and come up with something special . And in this case , a Gaza World Cup . If the rest of the world gets a World Cup , we thought Gaza should get one too . '' While the teams wore the colors of France and Jordan , almost all of the players were Palestinian . Foreign nationals working for the United Nations and other aid organizations rounded out the teams to give it its international flavor . American player Corey Pattison played for the French team . He said they found a way to work past the language barrier . `` When I get out there , it 's more like , 'Corey , go forward , go forward , go forward . Do n't kick the ball out of bounds , ' '' he said . A crowd of several thousand men , along with a few women , watched the two teams battle in a game played down to the proverbial wire . After scoring a goal a piece , the match went into overtime -- with the French besting the Jordanians on penalty shots . The crowd , as expected , went wild . And the jubilation of the players could not be contained . One jumped up on the rail separating the field from the spectators , took off his jersey and led the crowd in a raucous chant . While organizers had hoped to keep politics out of the cup , the politicians could not stay away . Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh presided over the award ceremony . But this was a day for Gazans to put aside politics and their many problems , at least for a while , and bask in the glory of hosting -- and winning -- the World Cup .
Palestinians stage 16-team soccer `` World Cup '' in Gaza . Teams made up of local players plus international aid workers . `` France '' beats `` Jordan '' on penalty kicks in the final .