Pakistan appear in AFC U13 Festival of Football
Lahore, 20 Jan: ” Following impressive display at AFC Festival of Football during last four years, we are on the way to show same kind of performance at Iran from 10-23 May 2011 and picked talented school-level players from Academies, AFC AID-27 coaches and February’s 13th National U13 Festival of Footbal who will represent Pakistan in coming Yazd City’s AFC U13 Festival of Football. The selection committee and three-member Technical Study Group (TSG) will go all out to pick full of merit players and I hope that Pakistan U13 team will put up same kind of display as our U13 team did at Dhaka 2007 and U14 team at Iran last year,” this is stated by Pakistan Football Federation’s President Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat who recently earned the AFC Executive Committee post.
The 13th National U13 Festival of Football event will help PFF in making strong Pakistan U13 team which will take on host Iran, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Maldives, Afghanistan in the South Asian Zone of nine-nation AFC U13 Festival of Football at Iran from 10-23 May 2011
Representatives from all 46 AFC member associations will be participating in the Festivals. AFC Grassroots and Youth Department has finalised the locations and dates of the same for the year 2011. West Asia show will kick off in Qatarian capital of Doha from 13-26 February.The Central Asian Festival will be held in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) from 4-17 April, while Beijing, China, will host the East Asian Festival from 15-28 April . The Festival for Asean will take place in Sabah, Malaysia, from 24 May- 6 June, while Iran’s Yazd City will host the South Asian Festival from 10-23 May. Last year, the South Asia Festival held in Hamedan City, Iran, remained unforgettable for Pakistan U14 booters. IRIFF used to rotate the event annually with the provinces or cities hosting the event every year.
Faisal stressed that AFC’s Vision Asia team is confident the 2011 Festival of Football will be bigger and better than ever as the continent continues its drive to lift the standard of football. The Festival is focused on increasing the football playing base, starting at the grassroots level, and providing a positive and enjoyable life experience for children.
“Preparations are well under way for the ninth edition of this annual event, which is aimed at U13 players and encompasses all aspects of football development, from the technical skills of young players to referees to coaches. There is a lot of enthusiasm for the Festival of Football. Its popularity has grown and we expect to have more participants than ever before,” said Faisal who distributed handsome cash awards to each official and players for their fireworks at Dhaka three years ago and Iran last year.
Also FIFA Disciplinary Committee member and AFC Discplinary Committee Chairman, Faisal concluded : “More importantly, it is for member associations to prepare earlier for the development of future international teams. AFC’s Grassroot &Youth Department works closely with the Vision Asia project that is geared towards lifting the standards of football in Asia. Faisal-led PFF is going to promote soccer at grass root level, and have never missed participation in AFC Festivals for school boy level, participating in U14 event at Kathmandu 2004, Islamabad 2006 and Iran (2008, 2010), U13 event at Dhaka twice (2005, 2007) and Iran 2009.