October 22 – A further 57 people linked to football and sport were evacuated from Afghanistan, arriving in Doha, Qatar, on a Qatar Airways Charter flight on Wednesday.
FIFA said that it had supported the evacuation of a second group of refugees linked to women’s football and basketball. Most of those arriving in Doha were women and children.
Last Thursday (14 October), 100 people linked to football in Afghanistan were evacuated to Doha as part of a joint FIFA/Qatar mission. FIFA said it “will continue to work resolutely on the safe evacuation of further members of the sporting family.”
FIFA said its leadership has been working closely with Qatar on the evacuation effort since August. Albania have also recently joined the collaboration and FIFA is calling on countries worldwide “to support this humanitarian cause by offering permanent settlement to these women and families to enable them to begin to rebuild their lives.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “We would like to express our sincere thanks to both the Amir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, for helping us with this humanitarian mission and for all their assistance in safely relocating these members of the football community in such challenging circumstances.
“I am also calling on all of our friends in governments and in the football community across the world to help us in obtaining residence permits and visas for the evacuees so that they can start a new life in safe and secure circumstances.”
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