The Somali Football year partially started in April with
Division B and Division C championships currently underway at the University
stadium south of the capital, but the league A was postponed because of the
undergoing reconstruction of Somalia’s old football facility ‘Stadium Banadir’
which is being rebuilt by FIFA.
At a lengthy meeting with Division A club authorities at
the SFF headquarters in Mogadishu, secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab
announced that the division A league will kick off at the Banadir Stadium on 5thof September with Heegan FC taking on Mogadishu City FC according to the
fixtures.
"We are sorry for the delay, because the start date of
our league A was April as normal, but due to the yet incomplete reconstruction of
Stadium Banadir we postponed the competition and we are hopeful that the facility
will be ready before September” SFF secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab said
in a press statement after Sunday’s meeting.
"Most of the construction has been done so far--- the VIP
position, the dressing rooms and other minor works are yet to be completed and
we are very hopeful that the International football governing body FIFA will
complete the project before time to refrain from another postponement” Mr. Abdi
Qani Said Arab explained in his press statement.
Meanwhile Somalia’s national soccer facility ‘Stadium
Mogadishu’ is home to thousands of African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu who
are still reluctant to SFF calls for troop vacation from the Chinese-built
facility. The facility could have been an alternative for the SFF to host the
Division A league, the most populous sporting event in the war-devastated
country.
Last year, the SFF failed in two attempts to persuade the
AU commanders vacate their men from the facility were SFF wanted to host the 19thedition of it regional football tournament for peace and development.
The football for peace event was due in December 2012,
but unfortunately all attempts ended in smoke after AU commanders were
unsuccessful to fulfil their previous pledges of withdrawing their troops from
the facility before December.
The warring sides in Somalia deem the facility as a ‘strategic
ground’ for tightening the security in the northern parts of the capital
Mogadishu and that is why stadium Mogadishu several times changed into a
military base for foreign forces or Islamists in Somalia.
Early in 1990s the facility differently hosted contingents of Pakistani and US troops who were part of the unsuccessful UN peace keeping mission in Somalia. In January 2007 Stadium Mogadishu became home for thousands of Ethiopian forces who were based there until they withdrew from Somalia on the 15thof January 2009.
The facility then fell into the hands of Somali militants who used it as a training base until they were forced out of capital by the joint Somali government-African Union peace keepers on the 6th of August 2011. As soon as Islamists ‘forced out’ and Somali Football Federation was hopeful of regaining its place, thousands of African Union peacekeepers established a new base there.
However, Somali Football Federation officials are very grateful to the
AU commanders of letting them visit the facility at any time they want, but the
continuation of military presence at the facility was something very
disgraceful to the Somali Football federation who wants the facility to be used
for sports purposes as soon as possible.
Somali Football Federation Media Department
Email:somalifootballmedia@gmail.com