The proposal to build a football pitch was initiated in 2018 and supported by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President and AFC Dream Asia Foundation patron Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, after tragedy struck when an 11-year-old male student tragically died after a goalpost fell on him.

The AFC President congratulated all concerned in the opening ceremony on August 31, 2020, saying: “The new pitch at School 79 shows that the Asian Football Confederation lives up to its promise to make a significant difference to communities across the Continent.

Park, who captained Korea Republic and played for Manchester United and PSV Eindhoven in Europe, won 19 titles but sees defeating racism as his next major challenge in what has been a stellar career.

The UAE Pro League is the first governing body in the Middle East to launch a Child Safeguarding programme in May which focuses on preventing any risk of harm to children in football and increasing awareness of children safety and protection within clubs.

The virtual workshop featured guest speakers from leading organisations including Head of Safeguarding at FIFA, Kathryn Leslie and a representative from the recently-formed AFC Safeguarding Unit.

Major Abdulrahman Al Tamimi of the UAE Ministry of Interior Child Protection Centre, the UAE Football Association Technical Director Michel Sablon and Callum Irving, a leading youth development Consultant, also joined the discussions.

The two-month long programme, which will also enlist the assistance of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF), Football for All in Vietnam (FFAV), SOS Children’s Villages Vietnam as well as FCSA’s partners, Bundesliga club SV Werder Bremen, will engage more than 30 young adults and coaches from different regions in Vietnam.

The latest course has been built on the strong foundations of the highly-successful 2018/2019 Young Coach Education programme in Hue and Ben Tre in Vietnam where 33 young adults were trained to become leaders and role models for the youth in their communities and is now benefitting more than 2,000 children.

In the first edition of Gamechangers – the-AFC.com's new weekly series highlighting great stories within the Asian women’s game – we meet Aidana Otorbaeva, the Kyrgyz Republic international who utilised her standing as a footballer to play a courageous role in the country’s fight against COVID-19.

The latest initiative exemplifies the ongoing efforts and commitment by the GFA towards combating the COVID-19 pandemic after contributing 300 isolation gowns in May this year.

GFA President Tino San Gil said: “I’m happy to receive the news that GMH received the Demistifier sets needed and that they can be put to use immediately. We’re still in this collective fight against the COVID-19 virus that continues to affect all of us in the community.