Two players battle it out in the baking temperatures in Basrah
RAF join in World Cup
Monday, 26 June 2006.
The RAF FA last week organised the Basrah World Cup which concluded with the eventual winners USA beating Angola 2-1 in a tense final.
In the runners-up competition Germany squeezed through 1-0 against Italy.
The competition was open to the British Military personnel from all three Services based at the Basrah Air Port of Disembarkation in Iraq and was themed around the real World Cup in order to tie in with World Cup fever 2006 back in the UK and Germany (where many of the military personnel are based).
The Competition comprised 32 teams who were each randomly allocated a country from the real World Cup to represent.
It was a real challenge to play the matches as the ‘pitch’ was a bare earth hard surface and matches were played in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees.
However, the competition was a real morale-booster for the personnel who took part and demonstrated again how the power of football can be a unifying and positive force.
You can find out more about the RAF FA here.