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Syria
From left: logo of Real Madrid soccer club and Mohamed Sheikhmus. Photo: submitted; Graphic: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish boy from northeast Syria (Rojava) is close to seeing his dreams of playing professional football come true as he reached the final round to qualify for the Spanish football club Real Madrid’s foundation.
“Congratulations! You qualified for the national final. The trainers chose you because you showed both outstanding athletic performance and an exemplary social demeanor. You can be very proud of that!” read an email from Fundacion Real Madrid Clinic to 12-year-old Mohamed Sheikhmus on Wednesday.
Mohamed’s father Sheikhmus Othman told Rudaw English on Thursday that his son was born in Rojava’s Amuda city in 2009. A love for football runs in the family. Othman and his brothers all coach football.
In 2011, when the Syrian uprising began, Othman took his family and fled to Germany. They currently reside in Kiel.
“When Mohamed turned three, he began loving soccer,” said his father. He helped Mohamed develop his skills and in 2019 sent him to a Real Madrid camp in Germany. Mohamed impressed his trainers who told the family their son was very skilled, but too young to join the club.
The family did not give up. Othman monitored the soccer club’s website looking for any opportunities for his son and recently registered Mohamed in another training camp where he was one of the top three players. They and other winners from other camps will compete in Cologne at a date to be announced later in October.
The top five finalists from Cologne will be sent to Madrid, according to Othman. The family is now working on Mohamed’s “weak points” so that he is well-prepared for the final round, he said.
“Congratulations! You qualified for the national final. The trainers chose you because you showed both outstanding athletic performance and an exemplary social demeanor. You can be very proud of that!” read an email from Fundacion Real Madrid Clinic to 12-year-old Mohamed Sheikhmus on Wednesday.
Mohamed’s father Sheikhmus Othman told Rudaw English on Thursday that his son was born in Rojava’s Amuda city in 2009. A love for football runs in the family. Othman and his brothers all coach football.
In 2011, when the Syrian uprising began, Othman took his family and fled to Germany. They currently reside in Kiel.
“When Mohamed turned three, he began loving soccer,” said his father. He helped Mohamed develop his skills and in 2019 sent him to a Real Madrid camp in Germany. Mohamed impressed his trainers who told the family their son was very skilled, but too young to join the club.
The family did not give up. Othman monitored the soccer club’s website looking for any opportunities for his son and recently registered Mohamed in another training camp where he was one of the top three players. They and other winners from other camps will compete in Cologne at a date to be announced later in October.
The top five finalists from Cologne will be sent to Madrid, according to Othman. The family is now working on Mohamed’s “weak points” so that he is well-prepared for the final round, he said.
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