Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kabul: A total of 240 children took part in a football festival capital city of Afghanistan in conjunction with AFC Grassroots Day which fell on May 15.
Boys and girls from around the capital city took part in the event following three earlier grassroots festival held by the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF).
Thirty local coaches, 15 of them women, had attended a three-day course the previous day on grassroots football.
However, it was not the first festival this year as the Afghanistan Football Federation had started its first event in March.
Blakh was the first province that hosted a grassroots festival this year from March 14 to 19.
The event, held in a central zone of Afghanistan, was delivered by 42 coaches who had successfully completed a three-day course led AFF technical advisor and FIFA instructor Ali Askar Lali.
Right after the course, AFF officials and local leaders in Balkh Stadium held the grassroots festival with about 300 kids participating.
From March 22 to 27, the second festival this year was held in Herat province which was the sixth province across the nation to hold such a programme.
The Herat event turned to be the biggest festival and football fans warmly welcomed the programme in the province which has been the centre of emerging football talents.
The programme consisted of a three-day seminar for initially 30 local trainers, and schoolteachers joining later increased the number of participating coaches to 42.
The fourth day was dedicated to a festival as the programme concluder for more than 450 kids. Soon after the conclusion of the seminar, head of the AFF regional department in Herat decided to launch an U-12 league in the province.
Following the successful grassroots festivals in Balkh and Herat provinces, the AFF launched another major grassroots gala, this time in Parwan Province, from April 1 to 6.
Thirty-five coaches handled the festival with the participation of about 300 kids at Charikiar stadium.
Afghanistan, contenders in the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup set to kick off on Monday in the Maldives, hold grassroots festivals every year across the nation as a major campaign to encourage the younger generation into football.
Afghanistan is one of many AFC Member Associations who are taking their own grassroots initiatives spurred by AFC Grassroots Year 2013.
The AFC's focus on grassroots encourages its Member Associations to organise their own activities to promote and emphasise that football is accessible and socially beneficial to everyone and that it provides a strong foundation that will allow children to someday progress to the elite level.
Photo: AFF