KUWAIT CITY, Jan 20: Sports always being the language of communication between nations can be used as a powerful tool of diplomacy to bring nations together for a positive change, said Sheikh Fahad Dawood Al-Salman Al-Sabah as he spoke at a press conference Friday organized by the Premier Goal Academy, the youth team of Liverpool-based Everton Football Club in Kuwait in honor of the visiting under-13 youth football club Al-Hilal of Jerusalem, at the Holiday Inn hotel in Salmiya. Speaking at the event, the special guest, Sheikh Dawud Al-Salman Al-Sabah while welcoming the under-13 youth football team Al-Hilal of Palestine on a week-long visit to Kuwait, said that through football they are going to showcase their case to the world, trying to explain the difficulties of day-to-day life they face under occupation, and sports always being the language of communication between nations, can be used as a powerful tool of diplomacy for change.

For his part, the leader of the visiting delegation, Abdel-Kader Khateeb, while expressing the team’s gratitude for the opportunity to visit Kuwait as well as the kind hospitality accorded the team, said in the not too distant future the club shall reciprocate the kind gesture by also extending an invitation for Kuwaiti teams to visit not only to play football but also pray in Masjid Aqsa in independent Palestine. Flanked by Baker Nazer-Executive Director of the Premium Goal Academy (PGA) as well as Nasser Dakak, Khateeb presented a plaque and muffler woven in the Palestinian colors to the guest of honor, Sheikh Dawwud Al-Salman Al-Sabah while also thanking all companies and individuals who made the visit possible.
A coach as well as coordinator of the Palestinian youth team’s trip to Kuwait Nasser Dakak, said the main objective of the trip is to put smiles on the faces of the fourteen children, especially coming from an area with all the associated problems, adding that they are children with the need to get the chance to travel outside their locality with a majority of them experiencing life outside Palestine for the first time ever.

Having been born and raised in Palestine himself, Dakak said he had always had the dream of organizing a trip of this kind to have the children visit Kuwait, and fortunately the Premier Goal Academy in collaboration with Steps Company and Porsche Kuwait as main sponsors have made the trip a reality with the arrival of the team in Kuwait Thursday night. He added that this is the first time an event like this is being organized and the aim is to see if it can be done on an annual basis; “bring them back if not the same kids but different kids to have the same opportunity to travel outside and be able to see other countries and play some matches against local teams and academies that we have in Kuwait.”

As to how the children were able to make it this far to Kuwait from Palestine, Dakak revealed that to get the children to be travel-ready and make this event happen, all of them had to be issued Jordanian Passports to be able to travel outside their localities in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Regarding their program in Kuwait, he stated that since the visiting youth team got invited by the Everton Academy also known as PGA, they will train and play matches against Everton while at the same time they would be doing a game against Qazma Club on Sunday, play against the under-13 side of the national team of Kuwait on Tuesday. There will also be a tournament involving four academies, namely Everton, Boca Juniors, AC Milan as well as the visitors Hilal Club of Jerusalem on Monday at the Salmiya Sports Club running from 5 pm to 8pm, and it promises to be a thrilling chain of matches for football lovers in Kuwait.