The sports office, under the local council of the city of Suran, northern rural Aleppo, has organized a football championship, including teams and sport clubs from different Syrian areas.

The championship, titled “al-Mahaba” (love), was launched on Wednesday, October 3, at the Suran Stadium, which the Turkish government has established according to “standard” descriptions, where the opening match brought together the two clubs of Ikhaa Tilalyan (Tilalyan Brotherhood) and the Waqas, in which the latter won.

The Director of the Sports Office in the city of Tilalyan Abdullah al-Rafedi told Enab Baladi that 12 sports clubs from the city of Suran and the surrounding villages are participating in the “al-Mahaba” championship, including: Suran Club, Ahli Suran, Ikhaa Tilalyan, Kafr Ghan, Kafr Ghan2, al-Waqas, al-Wihda, Azaz, Qara Kobri Club, Tel Mad, Qara Kobri team and Ahli Jibreen.

The championship’s matches are divided into two groups A and B, providing that of each group four teams pass and the matches of the first round end on October 13.

The Turkish government has constructed a hexagonal stadium in the city of Suran, northern Aleppo, last month, and equipped it with all needed supplies in cooperation with the local council in the city.

The clubs participating in the “al-Mahaba” championship are getting ready to participate in the rating tournament, sponsored by the “Free” Football Syrian Union, in cooperation with the “Syrian Committee for Sports and Youth,” as Ahmad Tayfour, trainer of the Suran Sports Team, has told Enab Baladi.

Sports Events in Northern Syria

Lately, the “Free” Football Union has been organizing various events in the northern countryside of Aleppo and Idlib, under the relative stability which the area has been witnessing.

Last June, the “Free” Football Union has organized small football tournaments, including the “Cup of the North,” specialized in football played at the al-Shiekh Alwan football pitch, northern Aleppo, where 12 clubs competed; it also organized the “Civil Defense Martyrs” championship at the Sarmin city’s pitch, Idlib, last May.

The “Free” Football Union was founded in the summer of 2015, then it joined the “Syrian Committee for Sports and Youth,” in the same year.

Turkey’s effort cannot pass unremarked in Northern Aleppo, for they have covered the area’s cultural, civil and service-related dimensions, in addition to sports events, which Turkey is seeking to advance in Northern Syria.

Last July, the Turkish province of Kilis, in cooperation with the civil council at the city of Al-Rai, Aleppo, started construction of the al-Rai City’s Stadium, under a series of projects, founded by the local organizations, supported by Turkish organizations in the northern and western countryside of Aleppo.

The project consists of a stadium, the area of which is 8000 square meters, to include a football pitch, equipped with industrial grass, a running track, administrative offices and public facilities.

The civil council at the city of al-Rai is willing to build an integral sports club in the area, under the supervision of Mohammad Shiekhli, former Freedom Club and Syrian National Team member.