Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: The AFC Dream Asia Award was presented to Japan Football Association (JFA) at the AFC Annual Awards 2017 in Bangkok on Wednesday.
JFA claimed this year’s social responsibility award ahead of Chinese Football Association and Football Association of Singapore, which also had exceptional programmes.
The award is given to an outstanding Member Association (MA) in recognition for and appreciation of its social development work through football, and the JFA has been an exemplary MA for initiating meaningful and impactful social responsibility programmes in 2017.
JFA has ran a wide range of programmes with two main objectives, to contribute to football development both in Japan and Asia, and to continuously improve awareness of diversity and inclusion through football.
To achieve those objectives, JFA has organised numerous projects such as the JFA Kokoro (Heart) Project which celebrated its 10th anniversary in April and has reached 300,000 school children since it’s launch.
Other initiatives include the J.League Sports Promotion Initiative for the physically challenged, the Japan Inclusive Football Federation Warm Blue Day 2017 that raises awareness on autism, the JFA Circuit Kids Coaching with Toyota and the JFA Sports BLS Course for coaches, instructors and kids’ leaders.
Dream Asia stands for changing lives for the better through football, and JFA has perfectly captured the essence of the award.
“We are very honoured to receive this award. In Japan Football Association, we believe football has the power for social responsibility and through that we support the less privileged, children and the elderly.
"We would also like to thank all our volunteers as well as push more on social responsibility initiatives in the future,” said Kozo Tashima, the President of Japan Football Association.
Photo: Japan Football Association