THE Philippine Football Federation was awarded the Asian Football Confederation President’s Award for Grassroots Football for developing countries during the 2016 AFC Awards Night held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on December 1.
It was the second time that the PFF earned the recognition since 2014 during the AFC’s 60th Anniversary celebration.
In this award, member associations are commended for their 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.
Among the technical programs include grassroots football-related courses, workshops, basic skills training and talent identification.
It was through PFF’s Kasibulan: Grassroots Development Project, grassroots courses and festivals are regularly held throughout the year in different parts of the country.
For 2016, a total of 53 training sessions and festivals were conducted nationwide involving 15,086 youth players and 3,577 teacher-coaches.
Officials said renewed emphasis in grassroots football started after PFF president Mariano Araneta was elected in 2010.
“I am delighted to receive the award on behalf of the federation. The recognition should motivate us to do more,” said Araneta.
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.
Places like Iloilo City, Davao City, Baguio and San Carlos City have been the actual venues of these FIFA courses and workshops.
“We thank all those who helped us promote grassroots football in the Philippines. The award is meaningful as it shows that we are on the right track in developing the youth,” said Araneta.
It also helped that PFF relaunched the Kasibulan: Grassroots Football Development Program in February 2012 in Calamba City with international and local football stakeholders in attendance.
Araneta 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.
“As a developing football nation, we consider the grassroots as the lifeblood and the future of Philippine football,” he said.
Currently, the Kasibulan Program receives support from PAGCOR, Smart, Department of Education, Japan Football Association and Philam Life Foundation.