England and Afghanistan could play match at Wembley to mark end of war

Michael Owen visits Afghanistan with David Cameron to launch scheme to develop country’s football premier league

A match between the England and Afghanistan football teams to mark the end of the 12-year war could be held at Wembley after a major new programme to boost the game was launched by David Cameron and the former England player Michael Owen.

During a fleeting 12-hour visit, the prime minister and Owen met troops separated from their families at Christmas on a dusty makeshift football pitch at Camp Bastion, the British base at Helmand.

Owen flew out with the prime minister to announce a new Football Association (FA) initiative to develop the country’s premier league under a drive to foster national spirit in Afghanistan after 12 years of warfare. As part of the partnership, Afghan players and officials will be invited to St George’s Park, England’s new national training centre.

While on the trip, Owen, an FA ambassador and former Liverpool player, said he would like to see a match between the England and Afghan national teams at Wembley as a way to mark the drawdown.

“It would be fantastic,” he said. “In the association the Afghan FA have with ours, I think there’s the opportunity for them to come over and train at our national centre St George’s Park and, who knows, there could be a fully fledged game at Wembley one day. That would be fantastic to mark the occasion.

“I don’t know what the politics would be but it would be great to mark the end of the conflict with a game, certainly, at Wembley – that would be a great occasion.”

Speaking later, Cameron endorsed the “excellent idea” of an England v Afghanistan match.

“I was reflecting today that soon this incredible piece of service by British troops will come to an end and we’ll have to think how best to mark that. If you take 2001 to 2014 it is a very long continuous operation and as a nation we’ll need to think how best to mark that, much as we did with previous operations, and I’m sure there will be many, very dignified national events that should take place. We can discuss that in the future. But the idea of one part of it being a football match is a nice idea.”

A former Welsh international footballer, John Hartson, also said he thought a match to mark the end of foreign troops in Afghanistan would be a “fantastic touch” if it got the backing of the FA.

“I think you would get a full house because it would be an opportunity for the people back home to go and pay their respects and go to Wembley,” he said. “It wouldn’t be as difficult as coming out here so I think it would be a great chance to get everybody out in the same stadium and embrace the occasion.”

The FA said an England v Afghanistan match could be a “long-term ambition” of the partnership.

During the seven-hour flight on a military C17 plane, Cameron and Owen were …read more