Football Mad Kurdistan Loving and Learning from Spain

By Alexandra Di Stefano Pironti

BARCELONA, Spain – When Daban Shadala arrived three years ago to start his mission as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) first representative in Spain, he knew exactly what most Kurds back home wanted from Spain: A taste of its world-famous football.

“When we opened the KRG office in Spain three years ago I thought there is a big interest in Kurdistan about the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona football teams,” Shadala told Rudaw during a short visit to Barcelona. “One year later, Real Madrid accepted to cooperate with us and opened football schools in Kurdistan shaped on their model.”

The KRG representative scored again last month, arranging to bring trainers from Kurdistan to be coached in Madrid.

“In October we had 12 trainers from Kurdistan in Madrid, who came to learn from Real Madrid how to train kids with their tutorial model,” said Shadala.

He said FC Barcelona also was invited to open schools in Kurdistan.

“We have also tried very hard to contact the FC Barcelona team, but they did not respond,” added Shadala, who said he likes football but is not crazy about it like so many other Kurds.

Last year, the KRG and Real Madrid signed a contract to build facilities and select trainers in Kurdistan, based on the Spanish club’s standards.

Real Madrid has schools in 90 different countries. In Kurdistan, the team has opened four schools in different provinces.

Bayram Tutumlu, a famous Barcelona-based football agent of Kurdish origin, told Rudaw he was very pleased about the football exchanges between the Kurdistan Region and Spain.

“This is excellent news for the Kurdish people and for the youngsters in Kurdistan, who will be able to enjoy the system of a mythical team like Real Madrid,” said Tutumlu, who is Turkish-born.

He said that Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani “loves football, and although he is a fan of FC Barcelona he has a lot of respect and admiration for Real Madrid.”

Shadala said that the KRG is also in touch with the Atletico Madrid football club to open academies in Kurdistan, a region where more than half the population is below 23-years-old and almost all are crazy about Spanish football.

Spain has become a tourist destination for many Kurds, with Barcelona and Madrid the football Meccas for fans. “When my friends visit Spain they like to go to football matches,” said Shadala.

In autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, every game played by FC Barcelona or Real Madrid is celebrated as much as in Spain. Streets empty during matches and people sit glued to TV screens and cheer for their respective side.

President Barzani – a Barca fan -- was hosted in 2011 by Sandro Rosell, president of FC Barcelona. The Kurdish leader attended a live game at the team’s Camp Nou in Barcelona and was presented with a club T-shirt.

Ayden, a 30-year-old Iraqi Kurd from Sulaimani, has been living for the past eight years in Barcelona. He is lucky enough to attend a live game whenever he likes, but says he rarely goes to watch at the stadium.

“I am an FC Barcelona fan. My blood is blue and red (like the Barcelona club colors),” Ayden enthused.

“I have been to two Barcelona-Madrid games and I find it interesting. But I disagree with the way the games are celebrated in Kurdistan,” said Ayden, who is married to a Spaniard and the couple have a five-year-old daughter.

“Spain has other interesting things to offer besides football, and my people should take other good things from Spain like freedom, honesty and democracy,” he advised.

The 12 Kurdish trainers took part in a Real Madrid program called, “they play, we educate.”

“The contents are designed so that children not only receive technical and tactical training, and physical development, but also assimilation of principles and values,” Real Madrid said in a statement. It said the program also taught “knowledge and application of the rules of fair play.”