good morning delegates of the community and thank you for recognising the chair

Grassroot sports is extremely important to any developing sporting nation. It is a foundation for sport for
life and for high performance sport but, more importantly, when delivered well it creates immense value
and develops more talents for the country in the years to come. One must recognize that in order to
achieve its strategic outcomes, more emphasis must be given on the delivery of innovative sports
program at the junior level

The ownership of Clubs, schools or sport manager at is to develop sports at both ends of the spectrum,
one at the ground level development and other from the technological end. Though the grassroot sector
has been slow to adopt new technologies, but it is true that, at junior level of sports management, the
combination of basic coaching along with technology will bring out different results amongst players and
youths. As we can see, technology is changing the way sport is being played in 21st century. It has
created a huge impact and will drive more innovations in the years to come.
Grassroot sports is extremely important to any developing sporting nation. It is a foundation for sport for
life and for high performance sport but, more importantly, when delivered well it creates immense value
and develops more talents for the country in the years to come. One must recognize that in order to
achieve its strategic outcomes, more emphasis must be given on the delivery of innovative sports
program at the junior level

Grassroots Football lays the foundation of the sport, and its primary aim is to increase participation for
children, youth, amateurs, veterans, those with physical disabilities, cerebral palsy, visually impaired and
even the socially disadvantaged.

The decision to award Qatar hosting rights for the 2022 World cup has been marred by
contrversy,including allegations of coruption and human right violations,since it was first anounced 12
years ago

Spain has a football youth system that is the envy of the game, with national teams in both the men’s
and women’s game serial winners at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 levels for the past three decades.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) ability to nurture the talented generation of David Villa,
Iker Casillas, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Fernando Torres underlay Spain’s victory in an
unprecedented three successive international tournaments from 2008 to 2012.

Despite such success, the national association is constantly looking forward, guided by a long-term
strategic plan to further develop the game at national and regional levels. The RFEF aims to be best in
class, not only in terms of performances on the pitch, but also off it, pushing the envelope in:

the organisation of competitions

corporate management

social responsibility

Like many other European national associations, accelerating the development of women’s football is a
key priority for the RFEF. The association hopes the inspirational record of its women’s national teams
will help make football more popular than basketball among young girls.
At junior level, Spain won the FIFA Women’s U-17 World Cup in 2018 and has claimed four of the last 11
UEFA European Women’s Under-17 European Championship trophies. At the 2019 FIFA Women’s World
Cup in France, Spain were only eliminated by the narrow score of 2-1 against eventual champions the
United States in the round of 16. Hosting the 2020 UEFA Women’s Champions League final tournament
in Bilbao also boosted the women’s game in Spain.

The RFEF has also taken two steps to ensure there is a clear career path for female professional
footballers in Spain:

1. granting professional status to the top two tiers of Spanish women’s league football;

2. establishing a national minimum salary for women playing in the top flight.

During the pandemic, the RFEF medical team, including doctors and sports psychologists, used their
expertise to support the public health service, while the association offered its facilities for use as a
vaccination centre to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine. The RFEF also purchased millions of coronavirus tests
to ensure that football matches could take place with minimal risk of infection.

UEFA support

UEFA’s HatTrick programme, which channels EURO funds into football development across Europe,
supports the RFEF’s strategic goal of strengthening the game nationally by working regionally.

EURO revenue helped to implement Programa Avanza – the modernisation of the 19 Spanish regional
federations responsible for organising amateur football across the country, as well as lower league
competitions. By supporting and strengthening these federations, the RFEF aimed to increase
participation rates across the country and invest in new areas of the game. HatTrick funding facilitated
improvement of regional competition, youth player and women’s football development, referee training,
the renovation of infrastructure and new social responsibility programmes.

As part of its commitment to using the power of football to promote change in society, the Spanish
association is drawing on HatTrick funding to implement an innovative social responsibility project:
establishing football academies at 39 Spanish prisons to help rehabilitate inmates.

Competitions will give 38,000 inmates the chance to play in penitentiary competitions, with some also
training as football instructors and referees.