Syrian Football-World Cup Qualifying
March 23, 2017 8:18 AM   Subscribe

There is no ignoring the control that president Bashar Assad’s regime tries to exert over its citizens and, once again, sport is no different. The relative success of the team is both a passing panacea and a propaganda opportunity, the former for the people and the latter for the president. To present a thriving football culture to the world fits in entirely with the agenda of normalisation, of having quelled the rebellion, of stabilisation and control. However, as we discovered, the reality is far from that... Ultimately, this is a story of 23 Syrian footballers, 23m Syrian people, 4.9m refugees, six years of war and one president.
posted by josher71 (3 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Remarkable work for a couple of sports writers to break out into the big messy picture of futbol in Syria.
posted by zenon at 7:17 PM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


What an utterly gorgeous page layout and an utterly devastating story.
posted by General Malaise at 11:03 PM on March 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Heartbreaking. Really hope they continue as they've played so far and qualify.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:01 AM on March 24, 2017


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