How football brings joy and helps heal Palestinian children in Qatar
Al Jazeera
For the Palestinian children evacuated from Gaza, weekly football training brings smiles and unearths future stars.
Doha, Qatar — It is Saturday afternoon and a small football pitch at a residential compound in Qatar is beginning to fill up with dozens of children ahead of their weekly football training.
The complex, on the outskirts of the capital, Doha, is home to Palestinian families evacuated from Gaza over the past year – since Israel began its genocidal war on the besieged Strip.
Qatar hosts more than 1,700 Palestinians, including 762 children, who were evacuated from Gaza, according to numbers provided by Qatar’s Ministry of Interior. The evacuations began in the weeks following the onslaught of Israeli attacks on Gaza and were halted when Israeli forces shut the Rafah border in May.
Boys and girls of various age groups would assemble in the open area amid apartment buildings, indifferent to the typically hot and humid September weather.
As soon as the football coaches from the Doha-based Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) football academy arrive, they are greeted with big smiles and high-fives from the children.
