Statement from Syrian National Team Stars on Cancellation of Bahrain Match

In the past few hours, the friendly match scheduled between the Syrian national team and its Bahraini counterpart in the city of Antalya, Turkey, was canceled. This decision came following a series of disruptions in air traffic that directly affected the players' arrival.

The Syrian Football Association announced its apology for not playing the match after consulting with the technical and administrative staff. The association attributed the reason to the ten-hour delay of the national team's flight departing from Minsk due to aviation disruptions in the region, which caused confusion in the flight schedule and bookings, resulting in the delegation arriving only a few hours before the match.

For their part, six of the national team players issued a clarifying statement in which they confirmed that they were prepared to travel to Dubai as an alternative option despite their concerns about regional conditions and the risks associated with air travel. The players noted that they faced additional obstacles upon arriving at the airport, where they were informed that they needed to travel via Islamabad, which would have extended the journey to approximately 15 and a half hours.

The players based their final decision not to travel on several reasons:

The long duration of the journey and the uncertainty of the match's outcome.

Continued disruptions in air navigation in the Gulf region.

Concerns about the ability to return safely to Europe after the match ends.

The players (Ammar Ramadan, Mohamed Osman, Simon Amin, Ahmed Faqa, Elmar Abraham, and Abdul Rahman Weiss) affirmed in their statement their ongoing commitment to representing the Syrian national team, emphasizing that the health and safety of the players should remain a priority to enable them to deliver the best performance for Syrian fans.