- Title: Qatar World Cup a source of inspiration for girls and women in the region
- Date: 12th October 2022
- Summary: DOHA, QATAR (OCTOBER 11, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF A FOOTBALL MATCH BETWEEN QATARI GIRLS AND PALESTINIAN GIRLS ONGOING AS PART OF THE STREET CHILD WORLD CUP PALESTINIAN GIRL CELEBRATING AFTER SCORING THE FIRST GOAL IN THE COMPETITION GIRLS FROM THE BANGLADESH TEAM CHEERING GIRLS FROM BANGLADESH TEAM LOOKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (English) A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE PALESTINIAN GIRLS GAME, MAYSOON NAKLAH, SAYING: “Them (Palestinian girls) coming here is a great deal because it will encourage their friends to play football. They are here to be the leaders for the future generation. So yes, this will encourage them greatly.†MATCH ONGOING COACH OF THE PALESTINIAN TEAM LOOKING ON GIRLS PLAYING FOOTBALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) A REPRESENTATIVE FROM A THE PALESTINIAN GIRLS GAME, MAYSOON NAKLAH, SAYING: “The girls’ experience coming here it was beautiful. Reaction was just out of this world. Excited about everything new to them first time to leave the Tulkaram refugee camp. Some of them have not even left the city that they are living in. So it was all new to them all exciting.†MATCH ONGOING COACH OF THE QATAR TEAM LOOKING ON MATCH ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (English) QATAR TEAM PLAYER, TAYIBA MUZAFERJIA, SAYING: “Personally, I love playing football I play every day at home, it is one of my passions, and it is something that helps me space out and only focus on football and nothing else but football. It blocks out all my stresses from school, studies, exams and it just helps me focus on myself and how I play to improve myself to help me play better football.†GIRLS PLAYING FOOTBALL REFEREE LOOKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (English) QATAR TEAM PLAYER, TAYIBA MUZAFERIJA, SAYING: “Yes, I do think that through sports we can get through women empowerment and we can help get to women’s rights and it will make it, get equal to men like this. Now that we have been offered the opportunity we can show them who we really are and what could we do as women, and that we cannot be only better than them, not only we can play just as good as them but sometimes even better.†QATAR GOALKEEPER YASMEEN AL MUNTASER LOOKING ON QATAR COACH CHEERING FOR HER TEAM MATCH ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) QATAR GOALKEEPER, YASMEEN AL MUNTASER, SAYING: “Definitely, having girls playing football and showing their skills will help encourage other girls to do the things that they want and combat society. They can also show that girls are able to do anything.†VARIOUS OF INDIA GIRLS TEAM PRACTICING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORLD CUP LEGACY AT QATAR FOUNDATION, ALEXANDRA CHALAT, SAYING: “We think it is so important to provide opportunities for boys and women to play football, particularly in this region. It is important to provide them with the space and the appropriate environment to do so. So we really believe here to eliminate all barriers for girls and women to play sports, whether that be to allow them to play in a private area or to allow them to play in the apparel that they find comfortable. So Street Child World Cup is really a showcase of that, because of the all-girls teams we have. What's really exciting is that this men’s World Cup that's coming to Qatar in just a few weeks will have three female referees, the first time in the history of a World Cup, and we are really proud of that. We know that it is important to enable girls to not only think that they can play, but also that there are other opportunities in sports, like refereeing and coaching and opportunities in administration. So it is really the holistic component around sports that we are looking at for girls and women.†VARIOUS OF BRAZILIAN GIRLS TEAM PREPARING VARIOUS OF QATAR GIRLS TEAM POSING FOR A GROUP PHOTO PALESTINIAN GIRLS TEAM RUNNING AND PEOPLE CHEERING FOR THEM PALESTINIAN GIRLS DANCING
- Embargoed: 26th October 2022 11:50
- Keywords: GIRLS MIDDLE EAST SOCCER WORLD CUP
- Location: DOHA, QATAR
- City: DOHA, QATAR
- Country: Qatar
- Topics: Middle East,Sport,World Cup
- Reuters ID: LVA001169212102022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Running and celebrating in front of her teammates, Palestinian girl Ayah was the first player to score a goal in this year's Street Child World Cup in Doha on Tuesday (October 11).
Maysoon Nakhlah, a representative of the Palestinian girls team, described the participation of her girls, who came from a refugee camp in Tulkaram, in this competition as a “source of inspiration†for their peers to engage in sports.
"Them (Palestinian girls) coming here is a great deal because it will encourage their friends to play football. They are here to be the leaders for the future generations. So yes this will encourage them greatly," she added.
A total of 28-teams representing 25 countries are taking part in this competition, 13 teams are girls and two of them are from the Arab world.
Director of community engagement and World Cup legacy at Qatar Foundation, Alexandra Chalat, said having the World Cup hosted in the region will help encourage girls and women to engage in all fields of sports.
"What's really exciting is that this men’s World Cup that's coming to Qatar in just a few weeks will have three female referees, the first time in the history of a World Cup, and we are really proud of that," she said.
"We know that it is important to enable girls to not only think that they can play, but also that there are other opportunities in sports, like refereeing and coaching and opportunities in administration. So it is really the holistic component around sports that we are looking at for girls and women."
The fourth edition of the Street Child World Cup is organised by the UK charity Street Child United in partnership with Qatar Foundation in Doha between 8 and 15 October.
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