Grassroots: Chiarabini and Lepri in Madrid for the 13th UEFA Conference

The 13th UEFA Grassroots Conference, held in Madrid, Spain, came to a close on Friday 16 September, with the participation of all 55 European national associations, along with representatives of the confederations from other continents and of FIFA. It was an intensive five-day event, starting on Monday 12 September, which set out the guidelines for the coming years in terms of the game’s development. Representing the FSGC were the Head of the Grassroots and Coach Education Department Carlo Chiarabini and the Manager of the "Football is inclusion" project Fabio Lepri. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, in a video message, reiterated that the football pyramid strongly rests on Grassroots, understood as all activities excluding the professional game, elite football and national teams, highlighting its values and calling for ever greater attention to the issues linked to it. Grassroots, as the root of the game, must inevitably adopt a more inclusive vision, one that can genuinely offer everyone the opportunity to play football. In this respect, one of the topics on the agenda, disability football, generated particular interest among participants, with contributions from several associations showcasing good practices introduced in recent years. The Playmakers project, launched in 2019, was also the subject of discussion and in-depth analysis, with the aim of enhancing initiatives designed to introduce girls aged 3 to 8 to football, as well as new flexible game formats – areas on which all associations have started working, but where further changes will still be needed. Club Development will be the central theme on which all national associations will have to focus over the next three years, through the drafting and implementation of their own projects aimed at supporting and guiding clubs in their growth path. The programme should strengthen the relationship between clubs and the association with schools, promote the development of sporting culture values and reinforce the education of all coaches involved in the delivery and development of activities. Five days of work served to underline the progress made in recent years by European football in ensuring that the game’s foundations remain solid. Over the next two years, UEFA will support the associations through a series of meetings and exchanges (the so-called UEFA Share) that will explore in depth each of the topics covered in Madrid, in order to continue to raise the bar of quality in the world’s most popular sport.

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