Gagarin asks Darfur’s displaced to play for place in team

Famous football player from Sudan, Ali Gagarin has announced that teams of displaced people from camps in Darfur will compete against each other in El Fasher, North Darfur, next Sunday, to form one team of Darfuri players that will play matches throughout Sudan.

The now retired player told Radio Dabanga this week that in January 2016, the team of displaced players will arrive in Khartoum to play two matches. They then move on to a game in Ed Damer in River Nile State, and games in eastern Sudan and Kadugli in South Kordofan.

The head of the team's high committee, Hassan Bargo, said that the idea is “aimed at promoting the values of peace and repairing of the social fabric”.

Ali Gagarin is the nickname of Haydar Hassan Haj El Sidig, who played with El Hilal club, one of Sudan's biggest teams. His meteoric rise as a player in professional football was likened to that of a Soviet cosmonaut. After his retirement he held posts including director-general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2011.

Related:

South Darfur welcomes El Merrikh Nyala football team (15 October 2015)

Women cheer on national football game in South Darfur (8 September 2015)