FIFA and AFC Website Declare Al-Ram as Venue for Afghanistan-Palestine 2nd Clash

FIFA and AFC websites have put Al-Ram as the hosting venue for the 2nd leg between Afghanistan and Palestine. Although this cannot be deemed as the final decision, the Afghanistan Olympic Committee claim that both matches will be played in Tajikistan is doubtful now, although the venue for the first leg is confirmed, and that is Tajikistan.

If Afghanistan chooses to play in Palestine, which means they have to make contacts with Israel authorities, this might trigger the criticism inside a society that strongly oppose Israeli regime. Possible demonstrations may follow.

Meanwhile, there is not a guarantee that Israeli regime issues No Objection Letter for Afghanistan tour of Al-Ram. This stance is strengthened by the fact that Israel denied releasing the letter to Palestine authorities for Pakistan friendlies in Al-Ram this week. Both matches were scheduled to be played on May 24 and 27, but they do not happen.

This puts Afghanistan Football Federation in a very difficult situation. One might think they will forfeit the second match. However, they have the right to object to the decision and ask for re-allocation of the venue due to security reasons in the border and inside Palestine.

Afghanistan U13 Finish the Festival In a High

Afghanistan finished the U13 Festival for the South Asia countries with a lot of acheivements. Through the festival, they were only beaten by Iran 1-0. Afghan news sources and footbal officials said Afghanistan made 7 wins and 1 loss which made them the champion of the festival with 18 points, 1 point ahead of host Iran.

However, Irna, the offical news agency of Iran, reported Iran clinched the title, without mentioning about the points.

AFC South Asian U13 Festival Completes on Monday

The players rested on Saturday. Today, a series of matches wil be played. On Monday, the players participate in the closing ceremony in Yazd City.

Overall, it has been a great achievement for Afghanistan. The Afghan team won 4 matches and lost 2 only to Iran. Some has also written Afghanistan defeated Iran by one goal, but the sources of Iran Football Federation has not say anything on this.

Most likely, Afghanistan will play the likes of India, Bhutan and Bangladesh today, since it has not played them before in this festival.

AFG U13 Makes 4 Wins out of 5

Results of Afghanistan U13 Team in South Asian Festival held in Yazd of Iran as of Friday, May 20, 2011:

AFG 2 - 1 Nepal
AFG 0 - 1 Iran
AFG 1 - 0 Pakistan
AFG 4 - 0 Yazd City
AFG 3 - 2 Sri Lanka

Afghanistan U13 Beats Nepal, but Goes Down against Iran

In the first day of AFC South Asian U13 Festival in Yazd of Iran, Afghanistan registered a 2-1 victory over Nepal, but went down against Iran by the smallest margin.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Iran and Yazd has taken part in the festival.

Afghanistan Will Jump to 163 in FIFA World Ranking Next Month

Despite losing 2 points next month, Afghanistan will jump 1 step on FIFA World Ranking Table and reaches to 163, its highest position ever.

If Afghanistan plays any friendlies, that might change.

Afghanistan in Its Peak in FIFA World Ranking

Afghanistan jumped 10 steps higher in May FIFA World Ranking Table and reached to 164, its highest ever place in the table. Following victory over Sri Lanka in April's Afc Challenge Cup Qualifier, Afghanistan was expected to reach this point.

164 is the highest place in the table for Afghanistan so far. They have reached to 173 in July 2006, but since then they were not in good mode until last month when they climbed to 174 following to consecutive defeats over Bhutan.

Afghanistan, with 77 overall points have climbed to 32 in AFC, which shows a 6 step jump.

Afghanistan's move in this month's table is the second highest jump after Senegal which climbed 11 steps, one more than Afghanistan.

Palestine-Pakistan Friendlies Postponed Due to Security

Pakistan is not travelling to Palestine for the two friendlies scheduled on May 22 and 27 in Ramallah. Israel did not issue an NOC to the Palestine Footaball Association yesterday due to the fragile security situation in the area.

“Yes, the tour has been postponed as the NOC has not been issued as yet. We have also called off the camp today,” Pakistan Football Federation Secretary Col Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi told ‘The News’ on Monday. “If possible the tour will be rescheduled after consulting with PFA in future,” he said.

“Safety of the players is more important and we should always prepare for such surprises. But I would say, it would have been productive for the preparations of our players ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh had we played the two matches against Palestine,” Lutfi said.

He also added that the federation will reschedule the two matches in the first week of June so that the team can get enough practice.

Palestine Footbal Association Secretary Abdelmajeed Hijjeh has criticised its Pakistani counterparts’ decision to postpone the event, highlighting that the Israeli authorities never refused the NOCs and that the documents are usually issued three to four days before.

“I’ve sent the NOC letters for each player and the Israeli authority will approve of them.”

The postponment of the tour supports Afghanistan's arguement that Palestine should also host the 2nd leg of WCQ v. Afghanistan in a third country. Afghanistan Olympic Committee has already told media both matches on June 29 and July 3 will be played in Tajikistan.

Palestine - Pakistan Friendlies in Jeopardy

KARACHI: The delay in issuing an NOC from the Israeli government to the Palestine Football Association has put the Pakistan football team’s tour to Palestine in danger. If this happens, Afghanistan has a strong reason for not accepting to travel to Palestine for the 2nd leg of WCQ against Palestine on July 3rd.

The Palestine Football Association has sought an NOC from the Israeli government for the Pakistan’s tour to Palestine but so far no satisfactory response has been given by the Israeli authorities. However, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) has told the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) that the Israeli government will issue them the NOC by Monday (tomorrow).

“Israel is yet to issue an NOC to the Palestine Football Association which has minimized the chances of the tour. The PFA has told us that the NOC will be issued by Monday next. Then we will have to ask our own government for an NOC and if we are not issued the NOC quickly then we will have to cancel the trip as we have very little time at our disposal,” the secretary of the PFF Col Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi told ‘The News’ on Saturday.

Pakistan are scheduled to fly out of Lahore for Palestine on May 22 to play the remaining two matches of the four-match bilateral series against Palestine on May 24 and 27 at the Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, Al-Ram near Ramallah.

If the trip, which looks to be in jeopardy, is made possible then Pakistani team will have to first go to Jordan and then travel to Palestine through Israel by road.

Afghanistan and Palestine Play in Metallurge Stadium

DUSHANBE, May 12, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Afghan national soccer team will hold its home match of qualifying round for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Tajikistan.

The Tajikistan Football Federation (TFF) Secretary General Sherali Davlatov says they have received a letter from the Afghanistan Football Federation in which they ask to hold their home match against Palestine in Tajikistan in connection with the unstable situation in Afghanistan.

According to him, the match will be held at the Metallurg Stadium in Tursunzoda on June 29.

Afghanistan National Olympic Committee last week told BBC Pashto both matches will be played in Tajikistan, but the news is not confirmed by other sources yet.

Tajikistan the Neutral Venue for WCQ Matches of Afghanistan and Palestine

Today, the BBC Pashto website wrote that according to Afghan National Olympic Committee speaker, FIFA has decided that Afghanistan and Palestine play their two leg matches in a neutral country. And that country is Tajikistan, the northern neighbor of Afghanistan.

The speaker of NOC cited the security as FIFA's logic behind this decision.

Froozi scores 5 against Sara Meyasht

In the second match of Kabul Premier League, Froozi (former Kabul Bank) trashed Sara Meyasht by 5 goals and only received the answer for one of their goals.

The Afghan National Team captain, Salim Kohistani scored 3 goals for Froozi.

Big Bear and Jawanan Azadi locks horns with each other in the next match of the league.

Kabul Premier League Kicks Off

Yesterday the Premier League of Kabul started with Urdo and Sanayee facing in the first match. The matched ended with 1-1 draw result.
Froozi and Sara Meyasht plays the second match on Sunday. All matches take place at the Goal Project which has an artificial turf.

The current league consist of 8 teams. While some other teams were invited as well, they declined to participate due some disagreements with the Football Federation.

The winner of the League will qualify for the Zone's Champions Tournament to be held between the champions of each zone and was won by Urdo last year.

South Asian U13 Festival Kicks off on May 10

AFC: Kuala Lumpur: The AFC U-13 Festival of Football for the South Asia region is set to kick off in the Iranian province of Yazd with a multitude of educational activities for grassroots football on May 10.


Nine teams -- Iran, hosts Yazd, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- will take part in the two-week annual youth extravaganza with each team to send 22 players and four officials.

Festival Project Manager Dr. Shamil Kamil said the Yazd province festival would be the fourth and better festival organised by Iran.

"Evey year, the festival keeps getting better-organised and expanding its activities. Learning experience from the previous festivals helps in organising a better one in the future.

"Iran FF and Yazd FA both have committed to achieving the festival objectives. The AFC Festival of football will help to build the foundation for football and work as an educational tool for the future development of football in South Asia," said the AFC Grassroots and Youth Development Officer.

A cornucopia of exciting activities has been planned, including a coaching course for 24 young coaches, referee course to be attended by 21 referees and a head coach workshop for nine head coaches.

The online S2S Programme will also be delivered to 21 coaches, while nine physiotherapists are set to attend a physiotherapy workshop, a new activity from this year’s festival.

Matches will be organised for the nine teams which consist of 198 players of 12 years of age and skill tests will be conducted for the team participants to evaluate their current playing and technical skills.

Two formats of matches will be adopted to give opportunities to all the players to play, enjoy and develop.

Will Bahrain Determine Where Afghanistan and Palestine Play?

Palestine's hosting of the second leg in World Cup Qualifier v. Afghanistan will be rely on another match. Palestine is replacing Thailand in the Olympic Qualifiers, because Thailand has entered an eligible player in their first leg. This has direct impacts on Afghanistan second leg against Palestine in WCQ.

Palestine should play Bahrain on June 19 and 23. Bahrain is a team which has showed resistance to play in Palestine before. They definitly will ask AFC to let them play Palestine in a neutral venue. Whether this proposal is accepted or rejected by AFC, Afghanistan might also follow that pattern.

If AFC agrees with Bahrain not to play in Palestine, then the second leg between Afghanistan and Palestine should be played in a neutral venue as well. If the decision is otherwise, then Afghanistan will find itself in a difficult situation.

Tajikistan Plays Hosts for Afghanistan World Cup Qualifier Match

Tajikistan plays host for Afghanistan first leg of World Cup play-offs. Afghanistan will meet Palestine on June 29, 2011 in Tajikistan. The second leg will be hosted by Palestine, but the venue is still not known.

Afghanistan played Syria in Tajikistan for 2010 World Cup Qualifiers in 2007 where Afghanistan lost the match 1-2.

Afghanistan will have a practice camp in Tajikistan starting from June 18. All players, including those play in Europe and US will join the camp.

This news is not confirmed by AFC or AFF yet.