Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) welcomed a senior delegation from the German Football Association (DFB) yesterday to discuss areas of co-operation between the two giant sporting organisations.
The visiting delegation comprised various senior members of the DFB including Oliver Bierhoff, General Manager of Germany’s national team and member of the Presidential Board of DFB; Nicklas Dietrich, Fitness Coach of Germany’s national team; Thomas Beheshti, Head of Team Management; and Carl Monteiro, Head of Sales and Digital Marketing.
Ahead of the DFB establishing a new sports academy in Frankfurt, they visited Qatar to explore co-operation opportunities with AZF, which has established itself in the past decade as one of the reference organisations in sports worldwide.
The senior sports delegation commenced their visit with an introductory meeting with senior AZF officials including Abdulla Nasser al-Naemi Director General, Aspire Logistics – Member AZF Organisation; Mohamed Mubarak al-Kuwari, Chief Marketing Officer at AZF; and representatives of AZF’s Business Development Department.
The German and Qatari parties also discussed steps to further develop their co-operation and will hold another round of meetings today.
The guests also received a detailed briefing at Aspetar, the orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital. They were then given a guided tour by Dr Abdulaziz al-Kuwari, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Aspetar; and Dr Hakim Chalabi, Assistant Director General for International Medical Affairs.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit the various departments of Aspetar, the accredited FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, including Sports Medicine, Sports Science, Orthopaedic Surgery, Medical Imaging, Rehabilitation and Dentistry departments.
Their third stop was a visit to Aspire Academy and Professor Valter Di Salvo, Director of Football Performance and Science, who gave the delegation a sneak peek at the Academy’s new Football Performance Centre that centralises football performance, science and training methodology to support the development of elite football in Qatar. The beneficiaries of the centre include athletes at Aspire Academy, as well as those playing in the Qatar Stars League and the Qatar National Team.
The delegation ended the tour by visiting Khalifa International Stadium, the first 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar ready venue. Abdullah Aman al-Khater, Director of Events and Venues at AZF, gave the visitors an overview of the innovative and advanced systems and technologies being implemented there to ensure an amazing tournament in 2022.