By Sports Reporter/Doha


Monika Staab, the coach of Qatar’s women’s football team, was among three Germans honoured with the German Football Ambassador award at function held at the country’s federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin last week.
In the presence of Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Staab, André Schürrle (Chelsea FC) and Rudi Gutendorf (German football trainer legend), were awarded for their sporting and social engagement abroad as well as for their roles as football ambassadors.
The “language” of football is spoken worldwide. For that reason the ‘German Football Ambassador’ initiative seeks to continuously promote the excellent reputation of German players and coaches as well as their commitment to the sport abroad. Furthermore it supports social projects worldwide, a German Embassy press release said.
The awards were presented in the presence of high-ranking representatives from the UN, the German Bundestag (Parliament), the German Football Association (DFB), the German Olympic Sports Asscociation (DOSB) amongst others in addition to a number of football players.
Staab has worked in over 60 countries and has characterised women’s football nationally as well as internationally. Especially in the Arab world she has integrated women’s football into the society for which she achieved much recognition. Monika Staab: “I am very happy to have received this award. I hope that the positive trend in women’s football thus receives even more attention.”
Other nominees were Winfried Schäfer (national coach of Jamaica) and Klaus Stärk (technical director of Namibia).
The winners donated their prize money to support football related projects in the Middle East and the UK. Since early 2013 ten such projects have been facilitated worldwide by the initiative so far.