Following a year of remarkable
achievement in grassroots level football,
building infrastructure to further develop
football throughout the country and
nurturing a professional league despite
enduring over a decade of disorder
stemming from war, Afghanistan has been
presented the 2013 FIFA Fair Play award.
Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF)
President Karim Keramuudin and the
entire association have emphasised the
spirit of fair play at the heart of their work
over the past 12 months and their
achievements can be seen across all levels
of the game.
With the assistance of FIFA’s Goal
Programme, Afghanistan has been able to
construct artificial football pitches used for
the second edition of the Afghan Premier
League, which concluded in October 2013.
These artificial pitches also enabled the
growth of grassroots football, allowing a
greater number of children to play than
ever before.
A major highlight of 2013 for the
international footballing community was
seeing Kabul play host to the first
international friendly between Afghanistan
and neighbours Pakistan in nearly ten
years. Afghanistan won the encounter 3-0
in front of delighted and enthusiastic
supporters. Building upon this encouraging
progress, Pakistan will be welcoming
Afghanistan for the return match in March
in Lahore.
And while hosting an international friendly
may not appear groundbreaking on the
surface, considering the amount of strife
and terror Afghanistan has seen in recent
years, the introduction of football back to
the nation’s capital against Pakistan is a
prime example of the power football has
to unite and inspire in even the darkest of
times.
Afghanistan has also made great strides in
making up the game available to a wider
audience throughout the country, most
notably to women and families. No fewer
than 23 clubs – including 16 in Kabul alone
- now offer opportunities for girls and
women to play football.
Tokyo Sexwale, FIFA Task Force Against
Racism and Discrimination adviser, South
African politician and anti-apartheid
activist, who presented President
Keramuudin with the 2013 FIFA Fair Play
Award at the FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony
in Zurich, said: “(Afghanistan) is inspiring
social change and breaking down barriers
every day. Against all odds, the winner of
the 2013 FIFA Fair Play Award has upheld
this spirit of courage and solidarity through
the aftereffects of war, disorder and
conflict.
“It takes a great amount of dedication and
hard work to develop football at grassroots
level, to build infrastructure for the game
so that it can grow, and to nurture a
national league in the midst of years of
violence and destruction. But that is just
what this remarkable and worthy winner
has achieved.”
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