ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP: The head of European soccer’s governing body and Jordan’s Prince Ali have inaugurated a full-size soccer pitch in Jordan’s largest camp for Syrian refugees.
Uefa President Aleksander Ceferin kicked a ball around with Syrian children who joyfully ran on to the facility’s artificial grass after Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting.
Organisers say the pitch is meant to give a sense of normalcy to 80,000 residents of Zaatari, which was set up in 2012, a year after the start of the Syria crisis.
Former French national team player Christian Karembeu said after the ceremony that “with sports we can at least try to eradicate some trauma” of Syria’s civil war.
Uefa’s Foundation for Children and Jordan’s Asian Football Development Project contributed funding. Organisers did not say how much the pitch cost.
