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| Aspire acting director general Tariq al-Naam presents a certificate to one of the particpants of the fourth edition of the ‘Aspire Football Dreams’ yesterday |
This fourth edition of ASPIRE Football Dreams covered 15 countries across three continents; Asia, Africa and Latin America. Young, talented boys, born between 1994 and 1997, from Thailand, Costa Rica and Guatemala joined those from Vietnam, Paraguay, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda to train with, and play against, each other at ASPIRE Academy.
More than 640,000 young boys entered the program, between them playing around 53,000 games organized on more than 850 pitches spread throughout the 15 countries. Registration to take part was free.
The program has used the services of 7,000 volunteers, in combination with highly qualified professional coaches and scouts.
The top 39 boys were brought to Qatar to enjoy a month-long trial and condensed training program, including friendly games against ASPIRE football students and the youth team of FC Barcelona formed of 1996 born players.
ASPIRE’s football coaching staff worked hand-in-hand with the program’s scouts and country coordinators, headed by Program Director Josep Colomer. The 39 selected boys trained and played under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff, who introduced them to the latest coaching methods and techniques.
The gala dinner was held on 16th February 2011, at which the 39 boys on the course were presented with certificates of achievement by Tariq Al-Naama, ASPIRE Director General (Acting) and Serbian coach Bora Milutinovi, ambassador of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Bid. The Gala Dinner was opened by a welcome word and brief note on the ASPIRE Football Dreams program by Dr. Andreas Bleicher, Executive Director International Affairs, ASPIRE, and a presentation by Hassan Al-Thuwadi, CEO of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Bid, and a word by Bora about the role of ASPIRE in forming talents. The youth team of FC Barcelona of U-15 players and their staff has been invited to the dinner as well.
The audience included the boys’ parents and relatives, who had been specially invited by ASPIRE, as well as the ambassadors or chiefs of mission from the countries involved in the project who have embassies or representative offices in Doha.
Following the end of this year’s ASPIRE Football Dreams program; the Academy’s football experts will nominate at least three of the boys to be granted full scholarship to the Academy. Those not nominated, and if willing to do so, will be sent to ASPIRE’s football academy in Senegal.