Doha: FIFA President Gianni Infantino emphasised the important role football can play at such times, while meeting evacuees from Afghanistan being housed at the Park View Villas complex in Doha yesterday.
The FIFA President joined Assistant Foreign Minister and spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar H E Lolwah-Al Khater, and Secretary General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Hassan Al-Thawadi, in visiting the facility, said a FIFA statement.
“First of all, I would like to thank the Qatar people, the Qatar government and His Highness the Amir for the incredible efforts that are made by this country to welcome so many people from Afghanistan as they live through difficult moments of their lives but are able to come here as a safe haven,” the FIFA President said to assembled media.
“The fact that this compound — something that was thought to be useful for the FIFA World Cup — has been able to be transformed into a home for people from Afghanistan for a transitional period is something that of course, fills us with joy,” Infantino added, having visited the nursery and the outdoor five-a-side football pitch at the facility.
The FIFA President also explained the important role that football has to play in supporting the Afghanistan people in these times of great difficulty, with the football community already mobilising itself to help football players and their families arriving in countries around the world having had to leave their homeland.
