Eugenie Buckley, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-14 girls’ Championship Match Commisioner, and Ahlam Al Mana, President of Qatar Women’s Sports Committee and Chairman of Local Organising Committee during a press conference in Doha, yesterday. RIGHT: Qatar’s coach and team captain during the press conference yesterday. PiCTURES BY: Shaival Dalal
DOHA: Qatar is set to play its part in hosting the first ever Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-14s girls’ championship.
The inaugural competition has been launched by the AFC to promote grassroots football with girls throughout the region.
Doha will play host to Group B, with Groups A, C and D taking place in other member countries of the AFC.
Qatar will take on Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates to compete for a place in the knock-out stages.
Two matches every day will be played at Al Arabi Sports Club from April 1 until April 5.
This is an opportunity for local football fans to gauge how women’s football is developing in the region with a tournament designed to give the most promising talent the platform to shine.
For Monica Stabb, German coach of the Qatar U-14s, the fact she even has a squad is something to be proud of considering how threadbare her squad was less than a month ago.
“Three weeks ago we had only had two girls who were training with us,” Stabb explained.
“They were all the players we had.”
“I understand this is something new for the girls to be involved in but I would like to highlight what a wonderful opportunity it is for them. We really want to encourage these girls to take part in the tournament. It is a chance for them to make friends and get to see new places.”
Majority of girls in Qatar’s team are very young, which is why this tournament is going to be a challenge for them.
“Many girls age between 9 and 11. So we have a very young team and it’s going to be a challenge for them. You will see the girls struggling on the field but they’ve great team spirit,” Stabb said.
The Peninsula
