SFF president also gained a full presidential praise for
leading the country’s football to a tangible progress and in particularly for
producing a very talented junior team who took Somalia to a CECAFA cup final
for the first time in Somalia’s history and as a result the country’s president
H.E Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, honored Mr. Abdiqani Said Arab with the high
profile "Historic Football Achievement Award’.
"SFF did a fantastic job for taking Somalia to such level in football. I praise SFF president Abdiqani and his committee members for the historic achievement, because I know they made sacrifices to the country and had worked in a very difficult situation” Somali president H.E Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, said before presenting the award to SFF president Abdiqani Said Arab during a gathering at the state house Villa Somalia.
"The countries we defeated in the CECAFA U-17 Championship
have been growing to develop for the 30 years Somalia has been undergoing
insecurity and civil wars, so getting our team play in the final makes a huge
sense for me as the president of the nation and for the entire Somalis” said
Somali president H.E Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who also commended FIFA for greatly
assisting football development in Somalia.
"I will very closely be aware of the living situation of
the national team” added Somali president H.E Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who
expressed his full satisfaction with the continuous development activities
Somali Football Federation is doing in the country.
Meanwhile, Somali Football Federation president, Abdiqani
Said Arab, was thankful to the president of the nation for the high level award.
"Receiving this football achievement award will give me more energy and encouragement
to redouble thefootball development work” said SFF president Abdiqani Said
Arab, who in front of the country’s president expressed his gratitude to FIFA for
making it possible for Somali football to revive and continue to grow.
"I am very happy that my dreams have come true.
Developing our football from grassroots and youth levels was one of the pledges
I made in my post-election address in 2014 and we have been able to produce 60 very
talented boys who are now ready to represent Somalia in all youth competitions
and started learning football from the very beginning, while some others are
also now being trained and we expect them to be ready within a year. The SFF
made such achievements with the full help from FIFA. My particular thanks are
due to president Gianni Infantino for recognizing that Somalia deserves to be
awarded with youth development programs for the 3rd successive year
under which we produced the talented boys we now have” SFF president, Abdiqani
Said Arab, explained.
"In April 2017, we had hosted CAF president Ahmed Ahmed
here in Mogadishu. He encouraged us not to lose hopes and promised me that in
his capacity as CAF president and FIFA vice president both football governing
bodies are united in giving a particular consideration to Somalia” SFF
president added.
Somali
Football Federation Media Department
Email:info@somsoccer.com