Afghanistan's Football Federation won the 2013 FIFA Fair Play award at the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2013 soccer awards ceremony in Zurich on Monday, after hosting their first international match at home, a friendly against Pakistan in August.
"It takes a great amount of dedication and hard work to develop football at grassroots level, to build infrastructure for the game so that it can grow, and to nurture a national league in the midst of years of violence and destruction," said Tokyo Sexwale, FIFA Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination adviser, South African politician and anti-apartheid activist, who presented the award to Keramuddin Karim, the head of Afghanistan's Football Federation.
While receiving the award, Mr Karim said that Afghanistan had never imagined that will win the award.
"Thanks to football, we managed to bring unity and solidarity in our country. This award for everyone who plays football and who loves football, it's about bring peace for a country that put up so match conflict for many many years we never imagine that we would win such as prices," he said.
Afghanistan won South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship in late 2013, sparking an unprecedented nation-wide celebrations in Afghanistan.
The match was promoted as a symbol of football's ability to foster peace and unite countries in a shared love of sport, but the result was celebrated by many Afghans as a sweet victory over an old and bitter adversity.
With the assistance of FIFA's Goal Programme, Afghanistan has been able to construct artificial football pitches used for the second edition of the Afghan Premier League, which concluded in October 2013.
A major highlight of 2013 for the international footballing community was seeing Kabul play host to the first international friendly between Afghanistan and neighbours Pakistan in nearly ten years. Afghan Football team won the encounter 3-0 in front of delighted and enthusiastic supporters.
At the Balon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo ended the four-year dominance of Lionel Messi when he was awarded the best player award.
The tearful 28-year-old Real Madrid and Portugal star, who won the award in 2008, had been the overwhelming favourite to pip Barcelona and Argentina wonder Messi, winner the previous four years, and France's Franck Ribery, who claimed the treble with Bayern Munich in 2013.
Ronaldo won with 27.99% of the votes ahead of Messi 24.7% while Ribery was third 23.36% according to France Football, co-organisers of the award with FIFA.
Tolo
"It takes a great amount of dedication and hard work to develop football at grassroots level, to build infrastructure for the game so that it can grow, and to nurture a national league in the midst of years of violence and destruction," said Tokyo Sexwale, FIFA Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination adviser, South African politician and anti-apartheid activist, who presented the award to Keramuddin Karim, the head of Afghanistan's Football Federation.
While receiving the award, Mr Karim said that Afghanistan had never imagined that will win the award.
"Thanks to football, we managed to bring unity and solidarity in our country. This award for everyone who plays football and who loves football, it's about bring peace for a country that put up so match conflict for many many years we never imagine that we would win such as prices," he said.
Afghanistan won South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship in late 2013, sparking an unprecedented nation-wide celebrations in Afghanistan.
The match was promoted as a symbol of football's ability to foster peace and unite countries in a shared love of sport, but the result was celebrated by many Afghans as a sweet victory over an old and bitter adversity.
With the assistance of FIFA's Goal Programme, Afghanistan has been able to construct artificial football pitches used for the second edition of the Afghan Premier League, which concluded in October 2013.
A major highlight of 2013 for the international footballing community was seeing Kabul play host to the first international friendly between Afghanistan and neighbours Pakistan in nearly ten years. Afghan Football team won the encounter 3-0 in front of delighted and enthusiastic supporters.
At the Balon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo ended the four-year dominance of Lionel Messi when he was awarded the best player award.
The tearful 28-year-old Real Madrid and Portugal star, who won the award in 2008, had been the overwhelming favourite to pip Barcelona and Argentina wonder Messi, winner the previous four years, and France's Franck Ribery, who claimed the treble with Bayern Munich in 2013.
Ronaldo won with 27.99% of the votes ahead of Messi 24.7% while Ribery was third 23.36% according to France Football, co-organisers of the award with FIFA.
Tolo
Source : Afghan Voice Agency (AVA), Kabul
