Thousands of football fans attended Afghanistan's Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) 2016 opening ceremony in Kabul on Thursday.

Afghan Star contestants performed this year's new theme song while team captain's walked out on field waving their respective flags.

The opening match scheduled later Thursday will see last year's winners De Spinghar Bazan from the eastern zone face the northern Simorgh Alborz team.

Last year's final match drew a record 18.6 million viewers – which included 57% of all Afghans in the country and Afghans around the world.

"In the past four seasons we have witnessed the presence of new players in the national teams of different age-ranges from Roshan Afghanistan Premier League (RAPL). We could select Afghan players who have the membership of national team from the premier league. The league facilitates the selection of players for national team. We also could select elite players from Roshan Afghanistan Premier League for national teams of 19 years, 21 years, and 23 years. The performance of these players is remarkable in national teams," said the president of the Afghan Football Federation Keramuddin Karim recently.

"At Roshan, we are strong believers of supporting sport. Playing sports is about team work and at Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) games, young Afghans of all backgrounds get to work together and grow stronger together. Our support for RAPL has already allowed young Afghans an opportunity to shine and represent their country on the world stage, bringing pride to all Afghans." said Karim Khoja, CEO of Roshan.

Meanwhile, Shafic Gawhari, CEO of Moby Group and RAPL Commissioner said: "RAPL successfully conducted four seasons in close cooperation with its partners over the past four years despite the existing challenges in this country. We are strongly committed to continuing the first professional football league which now has become a symbol of optimism and national unity for Afghanistan and everyone waits for the tournament in August each year."

The opening ceremony as well as all matches will be broadcast LIVE on TOLO TV, Lemar TV and simulcast on Arman FM, Arakozia FM as well as online via the RAPL Official YouTube Channel and website.

For fixtures visit http://www.afghanpremierleague.com/