Football Frenzy in Karachi

Photo courtesy: Open Magazine

Sapan News The working-class settlement of Lyari in Karachi is a hub for football and clubs in an otherwise cricket-crazy Pakistan. Most residents are Brazil and Argentina fans, but recent upsets have not dulled their football frenzy. Neighbourhoods in the area continue to erupt regardless of whoever wins and enters the next round of FIFA World Cup 2022. Videos emerging from Lyari confirm that this densely populated region can rival Sao Paulo, Casablanca, Buenos Aires, and Zagreb in football revelry.

Lyari is home to several football clubs and training centres. It is often said that you run into a new club at every corner of this highly populated urban settlement. Kasheb Shaikh, 18, who spoke to this author from Lyari’s Kalri Ground, said that although he has a day job, he trains youth aged six to 18. Shaikh says he has been a player and he does this for free “to ensure that kids in Lyari get an opportunity to come up in life through their football skills”.

Read more in: Lyari, Karachi’s football hub, has a message for clerics, politicos – by Ullekh NP in Open Magazine, 11 December 2022

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