Afghan national football coach survives knife attack

Baku. 12 January. Afghanistan's famous national football team coach was stabbed near his residence in an upscale area of the capital Kabul, and has been hospitalised, police said on Sunday, Report informs citing foreign media.

Mohammad Yousuf Kargar played a central role in rebuilding the national football side after the 2001 fall of the hardline Islamist Taliban regime that had banned almost all sports and even used the Kabul football stadium for executions.

The motive for the attack on Kargar on Saturday evening was unclear but may have been the result of a personal dispute, they said. The case is under investigation.

Photographs of Kargar lying in a hospital bed were posted all over Afghan social media, with condemnations of the attack.

He led the national team to its greatest success, winning the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship by beating India 2-0 in Kathmandu in 2013.