The Northern Syrian Football tournament for the first and second divisions kicked off Nov. 5 in the city of al-Bab in Aleppo’s countryside. The soccer games, which are expected to last until March, are being played in stadiums in the city of al-Bab city and the neighboring towns of Qabasin and B'zaah in northern Syria near the border with Turkey.
After the Islamic State was expelled from the area in 2017, the Turkish government began overseeing the sports sector there in cooperation with local councils.