Syrian soccer federation changes kit colour as Assad toppled

Rebels toppling the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prompted the country’s soccer federation to change the colour of the national team’s kit and logo from red to green.

Syrian rebels seized the capital Damascus unopposed on Sunday after a lightning advance that sent Assad fleeing to Russia after a 13-year civil war and six decades of his family’s autocratic rule.

As the events unfolded, the Syrian soccer federation announced it was changing the colour of its logo and the kit of the men’s first team.

“Our new national team uniform,” the Syrian football federation posted on Facebook alongside a photo of several players clad in green.

“The first historic change to happen in the history of Syrian sports, far from nepotism, favouritism and corruption,” it added.

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Russia and have been granted asylum by the Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing a Kremlin source.

The Interfax news agency quoted the unnamed source as saying: “President Assad of Syria has arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them (him and his family) asylum on humanitarian grounds.”

Earlier, Syria’s army command had notified officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s rule ended following a lightning rebel offensive, a Syrian officer who was informed of the move told Reuters.

Syrian rebels said Damascus were “now free of Bashar al-Assad”.

Previously, Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, two senior army officers told Reuters, as rebels said they had entered the capital with no sign of army deployments.