Qatar and Yemen signed an agreement to expand cooperation in football.
Football associations from Qatar and Yemen signed a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] in Doha on Monday, in a meeting held on the sidelines of the U-23 Asian qualifiers for the 2022 AFC Asian Cup.
President of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani and his Yemeni counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Al Eissi “dealt with the outstanding relations between the two brotherly federations,” QFA said in a statement on Monday.
Vice President of the Yemen Football Association (YFA) Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Mohannadi and Secretary-General of YFA Dr Hamid Al Shaibani also attended the meeting.
The agreement is expected to serve as a road map for “future cooperation of taking the game forward in Qatar and Yemen and ensuring its development at the local, Asian and international levels,” QFA added.
Yemen is playing in Group A with Qatar, Syria and Sri Lanka. The qualifiers are taking place in Doha from October 25 till 31.
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On Monday, the Qatari national team won 3-0 against Yemen in the opening match of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 qualifiers.
The host nation Qatar is now set to face Sri Lanka on Thursday, at the Khalifa International Stadium, Doha.
Ongoing conflict
Yemen has been marred in conflict since 2014 when Houthi rebels overran all government institutions in Sanaa and gained control of the city, forcing the internationally-recognised government to flee to Aden.
The conflict was exacerbated in 2015 after a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition intervened to reinstate the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Years of bombardment and violence has damaged much of the country’s infrastructure and killed tens of thousands of civilians.
Both the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition have been criticised by the international community for engaging in war-crimes throughout the conflict.
