The world-renowned Aspetar hosted the three-day course where more than 50 team physiotherapists from 31 Member Associations attended the bi-annual course which was launched in 2016.

This is the first time participants of the AFC President's Travelling Fellow for Football Medicine experienced how medical and anti-doping methods were put in place during the AFC U23 Championship Thailand 2020.

NSIM will now be part of seven established medical centres under the AFC Medical Centre of Excellence which was launched in 2018 to provide better healthcare for footballers in Asia while looking at ways to improve sports medicine research.

The workshop covered various areas of sports medicine such as the FIFA 11+ injury prevention programme, age determination, gender verification, return-to-play decisions, use and abuse of biological therapies, on-field management of concussion, sudden cardiac arrest and more.

AFC Medical Committee Chairman Dato' Dr. Gurcharan Singh (Malaysia) and AFC Medical Committee Member Dr. Zohreh Haratian (Islamic Republic of Iran) delivered the workshop which encompassed both theoretical and practical sessions.

"In requirement of the recently introduced Club Licensing Regulations in Tajikistan, every National League Participating Club needs to appoint a doctor or a physiotherapist. All the clubs have made the necessary appointments," Tajikistan Football Federation’s League Director Alisher Urunov said.

"However, most of the club doctors lack the necessary knowledge and expertise of sports medicine. So, the Tajikistan Football Federation had requested AFC to conduct this Sports Medicine Workshop under the League Development Programme.

"The workshop was beneficial for the club doctors to get the latest knowledge on sports medicine from the experts in the field. The topics covered were very useful for the club doctors and would help them in providing the best possible medical support to the players."

The three-day programme, organised by the TFF, saw participation from 29 clubs, national team doctors and physiotherapists.

The participants were exposed to theoretical and practical sessions, on-pitch emergency medicine and anti-doping procedures.

The Chennai-based facility which strives to be a dedicated world-class centre for sports science, medical services and education in India, has met all the criteria including the AFC guidelines, and is the first facility in the country to receive the AFC’s recognition.

AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa presented the award to CSS Director Dr. S. Arumugam at the accreditation ceremony, which was also attended by AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John.

Dr. Arumugam expressed his gratitude and also said: “Football is a growing sport in India, and this recognition gives us the opportunities to collaborate with leaders in the football industry, and most importantly, attain best practices and guidelines that would benefit the athletes.”