QFA president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Thani with managing director and chairman of the Qatar Shell Wael Sawan during the launch of KOORA TIME, a five-year sustainable initiative designed to improve the health and well-being of Qatar’s youth through football, yesterday.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Qatar Football Association (QFA) in association with Qatar Shell yesterday launched KOORA TIME, a five-year sustainable initiative designed to improve the health and well-being of Qatar’s youth through football.
This initiative created by the QFA and Qatar Shell will facilitate access to more football in a non-competitive environment in order to support the enjoyment of an active and healthy lifestyle amongst Qatar’s youth.
As part of the five-year campaign, QFA and Qatar Shell will jointly organise and launch, a series of youth engagement programmes using football as the platform.
KOORA TIME supports the social and human development pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS) through engaging Qatar’s youth at every stage of their lives with different programmes that are tailored for three age groups 7-12 year, 13-17 years and 18-24 year.
Speaking on the occasion, President of the QFA Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Thani said, “As the governing body of football in Qatar, the QFA is pleased to partner with Qatar Shell to launch KOORA TIME, to address the active and healthy lifestyle objectives of Qatar’s National Development Strategy, which is designed to promote sports amongst Qatar’s youth. We look forward to having a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of Qatar’s youth through football.”
Managing director and chairman of the Qatar Shell companies, Wael Sawan said, “We are very proud to extend our partnership with the Qatar Football Association. Shell has been the Platinum Sponsor of His Highness The Emir’s Cup for seven consecutive years. We are very pleased to join hands with the QFA, once again, to launch this unique, sustainable initiative KOORA TIME, which taps into football – a popular and much beloved sport in Qatar – to inspire a healthy and active lifestyle amongst Qatar’s youth, ultimately leading to a positive transformation within the community. This initiative reinforces our commitment to Qatar National Vision 2030, and we hope to have a positive social impact for years to come.”
KOORA TIME uses football as a platform to a more active and health lifestyle by facilitating access to more hours of physical activity and more spaces and opportunities to play; from the ‘show up and play ‘nationwide pitch access initiative, to the extracurricular schools programme based on the FutbolNet methodology created by FC Barcelona Foundation which provides children with an extra four hours of football per week.
The initiative kicks off with a ‘big bang’ on National Sports Day with an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest ever, friendly 5-a-side football match at Aspire Zone, while the rest of the programmes will roll out over the course of the year.
The current record for the most players in a 5-a-side football match is 464 and was achieved by BBC Radio 5 Live, at the Sheffield United Academy, on October 13, 2012. The event took 24 hours and was held to raise money for Children in Need.
