Fifa and the players’ union, Fifpro, agree to help evacuate footballers from Afghanistan who wish to do so, Fatma Samoura, secretary general of the International Football Federation, confirmed to AFP on Sunday. “We are working with Fifpro”, explained the leader of Fifa, specifying that it was already necessary to assess “the number of players concerned”.
Evacuating footballers from Afghanistan, “we have already done it in the past, we must be able to do it again,” added Fatma Samoura. The international players union had explained in a tweet Friday “to be in touch with governments to establish an evacuation plan for athletes at risk”, aimed “to put as many people as possible in a safe place”.
🇦🇫 FLASH – Zaki Anwari, a young footballer for the national team #afghane 19-year-old junior died when he fell from a US plane he allegedly clung to on Monday. (France 24) #Afghanistan #Kabul pic.twitter.com/Ux4FSxn2un
– Mediavenir (@Mediavenir) August 19, 2021
Fifpro was moved Thursday by the death of an Afghan international in youth teams, Zaki Anwari, at Kabul airport, victim of a fatal fall while trying to cling to a plane to flee his country where the Taliban have regained control.