Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Kuala Lumpur: The United Arab Emirates Football Association (UAE FA) has won this year's edition of the AFC Dream Asia Award in recognition of its contribution to social development through football.
The UAE FA worked side-by-side with the AFC's social development arm, Dream Asia, in organizing the first-ever AFC Cerebral Palsy Tournament, which took place in April in Abu Dhabi.
Eventual champions Iran, hosts UAE, Australia, Jordan, Korea Republic and Singapore took part in the ground-breaking event that highlighted Asia's commitment of football for all.
The UAE FA was instrumental in raising US$200,000 to contribute to the highly successful organization of the inaugural tournament and have also initiated a number of social responsibility programmes in cooperation with numerous local groups and organisations.
After receiving the award from AFC Executive Committee Member and Deputy Chairman of the AFC Social Responsibility Committee Dr Tran Quoc Tuan, UAE FA President Yousuf Al Serkal said:
"This award is a good encouragement for us for the future. Naturally as sportsmen we tend to look after our game but sports is not only thing in life. There are so many other facets of life which need to be looked after and talked about."
"Being in an organization working for society we need to look after that society and that's why we have a social responsibility programme in the United Arab Emirates Football Association.
"Sports is the medium through which we were hoping to raise social awareness through football and that's why we were ready for organizing the first ever Cerebral Palsy Tournament in Abu Dhabi."
The AFC Dream Asia Award, which was introduced in 2010 and first bestowed upon the Football Federation of Australia, highlights the value of football as a tool for social change and emphasises the importance of social responsibility by featuring those individuals, corporations, NGOs and Member Associations who play an important role in promoting the culture of giving.