London, July 20 (ANI): Even as the Libyan international women's football team trains in secret following threats from radicals, it has been banned from taking part in a big tournament next week by the country's sporting authorities ahead of Ramadan, in a move that is yet another in the line of pressure from hardliners.
According to The Guardian, Libya's football association told the team that it can not fly to Germany on Saturday, citing concerns that it takes place within the holy month of Ramadan.
Salim Jabar, one of Libya's most popular television preachers said that the team consisted of tall, good-looking young girls and this was something that the country did not need because since the first day that a Libyan woman signed up for the team, she had sold herself and brought shame to the country.
Midfielder Hadhoum el-Alabed said that the federation asked them that they could not play in Germany because of the need for fasting, although the team wanted to go.
Libya had been due to play teams from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Germany in Discover Football, a tournament funded by the German government, which was billed as the biggest gathering of Middle-Eastern women's footballers since the 2011 Arab spring, the report said. (ANI)
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