ISLAMABAD: Egypt won the final of the Street Child Football World Cup 2022 in Doha on Saturday, as Pakistan finished in the second place with an impressive performance in the tournament.
The Pakistan team remained unbeaten in its seven matches until it played the final match with Egypt which was decided on penalty shoot-outs (4-3).
Its match with Burundi ended in a goalless draw.
Pakistan’s forward Tufail Shinwari outshined other players throughout the tournament and scored 13 goals. The 16-year-old bedazzled the audience with back-to-back hat-tricks against Bosnia and Qatar before his team entered the knock-out stage.
Speaking to Arab News over the phone from Doha, Ansari said he was “proud” to be the player of the tournament.
“We are sad that we could not get the title but at the same time we are coming back [to Pakistan] with an objective [to play football] in our life,” he continued.
The 11-day event included 28 teams from 24 countries and was organized by a UK-based non-profit, Street Child United.
Neighboring India went out of the tournament after playing its group matches.
The Pakistani team was chosen out of 90 players who were trained during a yearlong trial process conducted by Muslim Hands, a charity organization in Pakistan.
During the trial stage, families of selected players were also given stipends, encouraging them to allow their children, many of whom work to support their relatives, to play professional football.
This was the fourth edition of the tournament, with the last three held in South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018).
