APL

In spite of all the challenges Tolo TV and the Afghan Football Federation (AFF) team have managed to implement the first four of the eight regional tournaments (RT) of Maidan-e-Sabz, from May 7^th to May 31^st and football clinics in Kabul, Nangarhar, Kandahar and Paktia regions, successfully.

Some of the teams involved and highlights of the amazing instances of the above mentioned events are elaborated by the following points:

Teams and Activities:

• Tolo TV and AFF team was consists of 20 TV experts (producer, camera people, technicians, security experts etc) and 10 football professionals (coaches, referees).

• In total, 19 teams (199 players, coaches, and officials) participated in 4 RAPL regional tournaments.

• The teams were from 11 provinces, mostly from eastern and southern regions. It is worth mentioning here that one team from refugee camps based in Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi and one team from the Afghan refugees based in Waziristan (most insecure region in Pakistan) joined the tournament in Nangarhar and Paktia respectively. Unfortunately, heavy fighting prevented the team of Urozgan province from joining the tournament in Kandahar.

• Qualified and experienced coaches from Afghanistan Football federation (AFF) selected 26 players for each RAPL team (Shaheen Asmayee, De Spenghar Bazan, De Maiwand Atalan and De Abasin Sapy) in an objective, transparent and professional manner.

• Huge numbers of spectators came to watch the games; the regional TV and Radio station covered the highlights of the games.

• Ten football clinics for 1000 plus school kids (girls and boys) were staged on the side of the RTs in close cooperation with the education departments of each province. Small gifts, football kits with positive messages like peace, unity, education and say no to drugs, were given to the participants of the clinics.

Highlights:

• The happiness and joy of the kids we witnessed during the football clinics encouraged us to organize and implement similar programs and events for the kids across the country.

• Given the young Afghan refugees the chance to participant in the regional tournament was inspirational. Some of these young refugees came all the way from Karachi to Nangarhar via Quetta Baluchistan, Kandahar, Kabul (around 2000 km distance), which is a great depiction of passion for Football!

• The big and pleasant surprise for all of us was the participation of some young Afghan refugees based in Waziristan (Pakistan) in RT staged in Gardez (South Afghanistan).

• Two of the former Afghan National players, who left Afghanistan three years ago to find a job in Iran, came back to Afghanistan, and they are member of the team representing the Helmand team at the RT in Kandahar. It is worth mentioning that both players are ethnic Hazara and both have been selected in De Maiwand Atalan Team.

The remaining 4 regional tournaments are beginning from June 4^th to28^th in Takhar, Herat, Balkh and Parwan provinces, respectively.

We look forward having similar successful regional tournaments and football clinics in the remaining regions.