UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin
What is the UEFA Football in Schools programme?
Launched in 2020, Football in Schools provides funding to Europe’s national football associations to help them deliver specialised football programmes from nursery and primary schools through to secondary schools and even universities.
More than 80,000 teachers have received training on how to deliver effective coaching sessions, promoting a healthy and active lifestyle for their pupils as well as helping them fall in love with the beautiful game and develop their skills from an early age.
Following the programme’s initial success between 2020 and 2024, UEFA will invest a further €11m between now and 2028 to support more projects.
“I’m very pleased to be here with so many youngsters who love football. It gives us joy to see the happiness and smiles of the kids. Time flies and when it’s like that, it’s because you are having a good time.
“It’s very important to promote the game across Europe and help the kids practice our sport. At this age, the most important thing is to have fun and to enjoy being with your friends.”
Unforgettable memories for young players
The event took place during UEFA Grassroots Week, which shines the bright floodlights of European football on some of the game’s lesser-known stories and heroes.
Grassroots football forms the solid foundation for elite football and UEFA competitions to thrive and we are committed to supporting its enduring success. In Prague, there were smiles everywhere as young boys and girls threw themselves into action alongside some of the game’s greats, with a series of skills challenges and EA SPORTS FC gaming stations also set up to enhance the morning’s fun.
Children and grassroots coaches from Czechia pose with the legends and UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin
“It is a superb event for the kids who can meet such iconic players as Luís Figo or Eric Abidal,” said former Czech international Jan Koller. “It is generally important for children to be active and play sport. It is not that important that it is football or any other sport, but it is superb for them to personally meet such iconic players, which makes their motivation bigger. What would I give for that when I was a boy in my era, to play against Maradona or any other superstar!”
“It’s always good to be part of UEFA grassroots projects and spend time with the kids. It’s a good experience and we were like them many years ago.
“Programmes like this are unbelievable – we know that football has a huge social impact, all the kids have a dream to play, so this is a big help for them and their future.”
Eric Abidal meets the kidsUEFA via Getty ImagesCzech success offers bright future
In Czechia, the FAČR has worked hard to grow its grassroots football community, meeting its target of registering 360,000 players by the end of this year and boasting some 3,500 clubs across the nation.
“We have been supporting grassroots football for a long time,” says head of grassroots Otakar Mestek. “The concept is football for everybody and football for life. We are trying to get as many people as possible in Czechia involved in the best possible way.
“Our programmes for children are divided into two halves – the first is supporting schools and improving sporting activities and cultures, the second is supporting clubs and showing them how to enroll kids and start their teams. Like UEFA, we want to make football the most popular sport among our children and young people, but we also aim our activities at veterans. If you come to a walking football event for the veterans, you will see the same enthusiasm as you saw at this festival for children.”
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66f300fee0b0441da953e429da60742b&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uefa.com%2Fnews-media%2Fnews%2F0291-1bee8c067a2f-5799d0169216-1000–uefa-grassroots-week-legends-team-up-with-local-children%2F&c=11152286698612014745&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-24 10:50:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
