{"id":8922,"date":"2024-03-13T01:19:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T01:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/?p=8922"},"modified":"2024-03-13T01:19:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T01:19:53","slug":"football-brings-afghan-and-pakistans-teams-together-for-international-womens-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/?p=8922","title":{"rendered":"Football brings Afghan and Pakistan\u2019s teams together for International Women\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Sports have the power to transcend borders and cultures<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISLAMABAD \u2013: To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, the Spanish Football Academy in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, organized a friendly football match between Afghan refugee and Pakistani women\u2019s teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this year\u2019s theme of \u2018invest in women\u2019, the event in Islamabad was supported by the Bar\u00e7a Foundation, aimed at celebrating the resilience and strength of all women and girls, including refugees, and providing an inclusive platform for both Afghan and Pakistani players to come together in the spirit of sportswomanship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The occasion marked the first opportunity for the Afghan team to play as a team together since they fled to Pakistan in search of safety some three years ago. Thanks to the generous support from the Spanish Football Academy, they have resumed training three days a week, improving their fitness and honing their skills. With encouragement from the Pakistan team, the Afghan women dug deep and did not quit, with players sharing their strength as well as passion for the game, \u201cmagic happens when you don\u2019t give up, even though you want to.”
\u201cSports have the power to transcend borders and cultures, offering hope and empowerment to those who have been forced to flee their homes,\u201d said Philippa Candler, UNHCR\u2019s Representative in Pakistan. \u201cBy bringing together the Afghan and Pakistani women’s football teams, we aim to promote unity, peace, and empowerment among women from these neighbouring countries.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candler also emphasized the importance of investing in women and girls\u2019 well-being and health, highlighting the positive impact on entire communities when women are empowered. The football event is part of a commitment by UNHCR to focus on mental and physical health of refugees and host communities, with participation in sports providing a transformative opportunity for women and girls to flourish and thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the inspiring match, a special session was organized for young girls from the community to learn and practice football skills under the guidance of members from the Afghan and Pakistani women’s football teams. This workshop aimed to inspire and empower the next generation of female athletes by providing them with role models and hands-on training opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

END<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo Captions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.          The Captain from Pakistani women\u2019s team is delivering an opening speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.          The Afghan refugee women\u2019s team scored one goal and patted on each other\u2019s back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.          An Afghan team player is kicking a ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sports have the power to transcend borders and cultures ISLAMABAD \u2013: To celebrate International Women\u2019s Day, the Spanish Football Academy in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, organized a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8923,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67,122,123,124],"class_list":["post-8922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-football-championship","tag-unhcr","tag-unhcr-pakistan","tag-womens-football-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8924,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions\/8924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theasiantelegraph.global\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}