APL

“Shot at a brighter future” contest is another unique initiative of the Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) for young participants, ages 14-16, who are keen on becoming well-known football players and symbols of peace. The RAPL team designed the contest to involve and encourage young Afghans to advance their football techniques and skills and work on their character for a better future. Moreover, this contest uniquely ties education and sport to help Afghan youth realize the importance of both and to get engaged in positive and constructive activities in order to eradicate extremism and violence and have better productive life styles. The winners, one boy and one girl, will be granted a two-weeks scholarship to the Spanish Soccer School in Dubai, a  top soccer school in the region. The selectees will be trained by professional-FIFA licensed coaches. 

To be selected as the top talents, the participants had to go through different challenges so that secure a spot in the final stage. In the primary stage, applicants were asked to write an essay on “How sports can play a role in countering violent extremism and promoting national unity in Afghanistan?”  60 out of 300 participants were shortlisted in this stage. All the 60 shortlisted candidates were provided with full set of football uniform and were invited for the 2nd stage. To complete the 2nd stage, the candidates took a practical test which was conducted by Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) trainers. Top 10 candidates-5 girls and 5 boys- were selected in this stage and were qualified for the third stage. A cash prize of 5,000 Afs was given to each of the top 10 contestants. Finally, Ahmad Zekria Hussaini and Arezo Rahmani were known as the 2016 RAPL “Shot at a brighter future” contest winners after outperformed their peers in the 3rd stage.