The opening ceremony of Somalia’s 38th football championship was held late Friday at the open ground of the Somali police academy in the presence of top government officials, Somali Football Federation authorities and other honorable guests, including Somalia’s first ever national football team captain, Mohamed Qalaf Shangole.
SFF secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab told the opening ceremony that preparations for the championship have been going on for the past two months and the SFF authorities are very cheerful with the start of the championship.
“The SFF has done everything possible to implement the holding of the 38th soccer championship and we are very grateful to all who have helped us accomplish the job,” Abdi Qani Said Arab stated during his address.
SFF president Said Mahmoud Nur said that it was a very happy moment as the country’s soccer championship was re-launched, especially in the face of such difficult conditions.
The president said he was very grateful to Joseph S. Blatter, the boss of the world football governing body FIFA whom he said had given a particular consideration to how Somali football would step into a greater development in the chaotic country.
“I express my deepest gratitude to the father of world football Mr Blatter who has helped the SFF through its hardest period and I am telling with a loud voice that the SFF will build a memorial statue in his remembrance," president Said Mahmoud Nur stated, welcoming Somalia’s first national team captain Mohamed Qalaf Shangole to the microphone.
The former Captain said that he was very happy to address the opening ceremony of the country’s championship so many years after he retired as a national player. He urged the young footballers including some former child soldiers and street boys to work hard so that they can be able to defend Somali flag in international football gatherings.
“Taking advantage from this golden opportunity, as one of the 13 individuals who established Somali sport, I am presenting this gold medal to Nation Link Telecom Somalia, the sole telecommunications company which helps the promotion of football activities in Somalia,” the former captain said.
Mogadishu police chief Colonel Ahmed Hassan Maalin said that hundreds of police officers will be on duty until the end of the championship by mid April this year.
Director General of Somali Youth and Sports Ministry, Saa’id Mohamed Hassan praised Somali football federation authorities for their commitment to promote football activities in the chaotic country which has lacked a functioning central government for two decades.
As the director general announced the championship was open, Somalia’s first national team captain Mohamed Qalaf Shangole was honored to kick the first ball. Clubs of Gasco and Daallo airlines, two local companies had competed in the first game of the championship which ended in 0-0.
Before the game kick off members of the Somali police musical band Heegan presented a good show and sang the Somali national anthem.
The competitions of the 38th Somali football championship will take place at the Somali police academy and the recently repaired football stadium in the Somali Political Science University.
Somalia’s soccer championship was due to be held before now, but because of the insecurity here in Mogadishu where the country’s international style football facilities were not ready to host any game, it was postponed several times in the past.
Stadium Mogadishu, the largest in Somalia is now home to hundreds of the Alqaeda-linked Alshabab militants who use it as a recruiting base, while the reconstruction of the second largest facility Stadium Banadir is on halt because of the daily armed confrontations in the Abdel Aziz district north east of the capital where the stadium is located.
Bulldozers and other materials were left in the stadium as fighting broke out early last year between militants who are based in the east of the stadium and government forces who are based in the south of the stadium.
Below: Somalia's first ever national football team captain Mohamed Qalaf Shangole addressed the opening ceremony before kicking the first ball. Photo/Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar
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The 2010 soccer championship kicks off in Somalia
