Football–the popular sport of Chitral

Football—after the free style polo—is another famous sports amongst the people of Chitral. In mega cultural and sporting events like Jashan-e-Chitral and Jashan-e-Qaqlasht, as many as 50 soccer teams participate. At present the sport is gaining rapid popularity amongst the young generation of the Chitral. The reason perhaps is that through dish antennas they have access to watch international events in Europe, which not only has sharpened their love for the sport but also contributed to grooming up their footballing skills. This is the reason many of the young Chitralies are prominent in football field as compared to others. At present two young footballers from Chitral play for Pakistan football team besides the many who play for financial institutions and other corporate companies in different national level events.

All this doesn’t means that special training session or infrastructure development in this particular sport has contributed to the footballing skills and interest of the youngsters from Chitral. It is not like that. Being mountainous by nature with a habit to survive in high altitude, the people of Chitral have strong lungs and high stamina for the sports which people in plain areas might procure after a long and cumbersome training sessions.

It is really high time to pay much attention for the promotion of football in Chitral, which is cheaper as compare to free style polo besides being a highly healthy sport. Proper infrastructure e.g. football complexes, training centres and other related facilities for the young generation can certainly encourage them to promote the sport