ISLAMABAD: Sometimes, Sahil Khattak still can’t believe his luck.
The sixteen-year-old boy who grew up in a small village in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, working at a shop to earn a daily wage to support his family, is headed this month to Doha as part of a team of 10 Pakistani footballers who will compete in the Street Child World Cup.
The 11-day event, which runs from October 8-15, will include 28 teams from 24 countries, and has been organized by Street Child United, a UK-based non-profit. This is the fourth edition of the tournament, with the last three held in South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018).
Pakistan reached the final in 2018 but lost the title to Uzbekistan. In 2014, it finished third place.
“I still can’t believe I have been selected,” Khattak, a goalkeeper, said in Islamabad ahead of practice with his 10-member-team, which has players from Balochistan, KP, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The team was chosen out of up to 90 players who were trained during a yearlong trial process conducted by the charity Muslim Hands Pakistan, its program officer, Syed Muhammad Owais, said.
“The kids were trained in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, after the initial selection, and as time passed, there was a final selection process for the top 10,” Owais added.
Muslim Hands Pakistan, which operates worldwide, conducted trials in nine academies in different parts of the country, “providing the opportunity to youth to showcase their passion on an international platform,” Owais said.
Head coach Muhammad Rasheed said the trail project had helped reach street players who did not have the means to enter academies.
“Those who do not get a chance to reach this point, we go to them and conduct trials and bring them here and groom them technically, tactically, mentally and in terms of their PR, we also do personality grooming,” the coach said.
During the trial process, the families of selected candidates were also given stipends so they would allow their children, many of whom work, to play professional football, Owais said.
About 3.3 million Pakistani children are trapped in child labor, depriving them of their childhood, their health and education, and condemning them to a life of poverty, according to UNICEF.
“Basically, I had no support from my family, they never allowed me to play,” Khattak said, smiling wryly. “Even to give the trial, I came without telling my family and took a day off from the shop [where I work], for which I was badly beaten because I didn’t get my daily wage that day.”
“Back in the day, my father was also a goalkeeper but he quit playing football due to [financial] circumstances and warned me against playing also.”
Now, however, Khattak said he was “very happy” to be part of the team and glad that eight long months of training had paid off.
Captain Muhammad Safdar said he was satisfied with the team’s performance and hopeful they could win.
“The way we have been practicing, sir [coach] has trained us day and night,” he said. “So, we are hopeful that we will win the title.”
