Syria's displaced footballers condemn Fifa delegation's visit

 Samer al-Kurdi played football for Al-Karamah in the capital city of Homs until the uprisings against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad started in 2011. Samer al-Kurdi had no idea that he would lose everything.

Kurdi left Al-Karamah, which means "dignity," to participate in the protests and call for dignity.

Goalkeeper for the team Abd al-Basset al-Sarout joined him in exchanging the throngs of spectators for the throngs of demonstrators in Homs' streets.

Numerous football players quit the game in protest of the brutal crackdown on protestors by Assad's forces, which spiraled into a bloody civil war and wreaked havoc on the lives of people in Homs and throughout Syria.

Millions of people were displaced in the north of the country, notably Kurdi and Sarout, by attacks by the Syrian government and its allies. Its death occurred in 2018.

Kurdi still recalls how pro-Assad forces deployed tanks and missile launchers to target places under the control of the opposition, destroying the football stadiums he loved.

Due to the ongoing conflict, Syria has not been permitted to host international games in such stadiums for the past ten years.

The world's governing body of football, Fifa, recently stated it will conduct a new "security review," which infuriated campaigners and former sportsmen. This, however, may be about to change.

Fifa announced earlier this month that it would send a mission to Damascus, the capital of Syria, along with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), to look into the possibilities of hosting an international friendly there.

It came after a meeting in Doha two weeks prior between Fifa President Gianni Infantino and President of the Syrian Football Association (SFA), Salah Edeen Ramadan when they talked about building a football infrastructure in the country's war-torn country.

The strategy is implemented despite the fact that the Syrian government and its leaders continue to be subject to severe western sanctions because of their role in crimes against humanity against people, including athletes.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which is based in France, "199 civilian athletes, including two children, were killed by pro-Assad troops between March 2011 to September 2022."

It said, "At least 497 athletes, including 11 youngsters and 5 women, [were] arrested in the same period. "207 athletes are still jailed and missing without cause."

Regarding if its strategy breached western sanctions and whether it would look into the whereabouts of missing players, Fifa declined to explicitly respond to MEE's inquiries. The governing authority stated that "any further information would be communicated in due course."