PFF receives AFC President Award for Grassroots Development

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Football Federation was awarded the AFC President’s Award for Grassroots Football during the 2016 AFC Awards Night last Thursday, December 1, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This is the second time that PFF has received the recognition; the first was in 2014 during the AFC 60th Anniversary celebration.

The Federations was commended for its efforts to promote and develop grassroots football.

Part of the criteria is the Member Association’s efforts in partnering with external organizations to execute technical programs such as grassroots football-related courses, workshops, basic skills training and talent identification.

Through PFF’s Kasibulan: Grassroots DevelopmentProject, grassroots courses and festivals are continuously held throughout the year in different parts of the country, in both urban and countryside settings. 

For 2016, a total of 53 training sessionsand festivals were conducted nationwide involving 15,086 youth players and 3,577 teacher-coaches.

When Mariano Araneta Jr. was elected PFF president in 2010, he renewed emphasis in grassroots football.

Part of the initiative was to ensure that the actual grassroots football coaches in the provinces received adequate training from FIFA experts who conducted grassroots pro-active courses in different venues for the last four years. Venues of these workshops include Iloilo, Davao, Baguio and San Carlos.

The PFF also re-launched Kasibulan in Calamba City, Laguna four years ago with international and local football stakeholders in attendance.

“I am delighted to receive the award on behalf of the federation. The recognition should motivate us to do more. We thank all those who helped us promote grassroots football in the Philippines,” Araneta said.

“The award is meaningful as it shows that we are on the right track in developing the youth. As a developing football nation, we consider the grassroots as the lifeblood and the future of Philippine football.”

He also believes that the program can still be improved and has an immense potential to cover more ground and touch the lives of many more boys and girls in the country. 

Araneta also stress the importance of involving more sponsors and stakeholders to sustain and grow these activities.

PAGCOR, Smart, Department of Education, Japan Football Association and Philam Life Foundation currently support the program.

“We are ultimately thankful to our partner institutions and we hope that we are able to sustain these grassroots initiatives, and meet our objectives as we aggressively pursue new frontiers of football,” said Araneta.