Tag: Football

Egypt’s Christians face ‘insurmountable barrier’ in pursuit of football career

June 19, 2018 Egypt Alexandria, Copts, Egypt, Football, Youth

As Egypt’s national football team prepares for its second match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup tonight – against hosts Russia in St. Petersburg – long-standing discrimination issues in Egyptian football have surfaced, with the country’s sizeable Christian minority largely excluded. AFP last month spoke with Mina Bendary, 22, who . . . Read More

A ‘dire time for human rights in Russia’ as World Cup begins

June 14, 2018 Russia Crimea, Dagestan, Don Ossewaarde, Football, Human rights, Jehovah's Witnesses, Oryol, Religious freedom, Russia, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

The 2018 FIFA World Cup started today with a kick-off at the Luzhniki stadium in the capital Moscow. (Photo: Sandra Montanez - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

“This is a very dire time for human rights in Russia,” according to the Russia programme director for Human Rights Watch, Tanya Lokshina, speaking ahead of the start of the 2018 Football World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow earlier today. Since Vladimir Putin became Russia’s president again in 2012 . . . Read More

Egypt’s Copts face discrimination in football, too

July 24, 2017 Egypt Asyut, Copts, Egypt, Football, Middle East, Upper Egypt

“Systematic discrimination” is preventing Coptic Christians from participating in professional sport in Egypt, according to a feature article on the Egyptian website MadaMasr: ‘Copts and Egypt’s national game – We’ll call you back later‘. Though Copts make up around 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, not one of the 122 . . . Read More

The Christian migrants building Qatar’s football stadiums

February 20, 2017 Qatar Arabian Peninsula, Doha, Football, Migrants, Qatar

The football stadiums being built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup are said to be costing Qatar $500m a week.World Watch Monitor Ten white plastic chairs are arranged in a circle on the roof terrace of a four-storey apartment block housing hundreds of Asian labourers. This is a part . . . Read More

Pakistan’s first female Christian footballer

March 31, 2015 Pakistan Balochistan, Caste, Football, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Women

Al Jazeera reports on the growing popularity of a young woman from Karachi who, as Pakistan’s first Christian women to play football for her country, is emerging as a voice against religious intolerance. Joyann Geraldine Thomas made her international debut in November 2014 at the age of 17, but the match barely . . . Read More

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