【South Asia】South Asia-Japan U-16 Football Exchange
- Time Period
- March 10 to 14, 2017
- Region
- Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Sport/Programme Category
- Football
- Implementer
- Japan Football Association（JFA）Japan Sport Council（JSC）
- Co-Implementer
- Asian Football Confederation （AFC） Asian Football Confederation （FFSL） All Nepal Football Association（ANFA） Bhutan Football Federation（BFF）
- Number of Individual Beneficiaries
- 23,606 people
The Japan Football Association (JFA) provided support for hosting the International Youth Tournament in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The South Asia region has limited experience of hosting International Youth Tournaments, and financial resources and organisational structures are currently not fully prepared. Based on these regional issues, we supported the hosting of the International Youth Tournament and training of leaders with the hope of helping to promote football and improving the level of competitiveness in the South Asia region.
A U-16 International Exchange Tournament was held by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), and one team each from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and Japan participated. JFA supported FFSL from the details of the planning stage to the operation of the convention, and shared its know-how for holding compact yet economically full-scale international youth tournaments through practical work. During the tournament, a coaching seminar was also held to develop young leaders who were lacking in this area.Feedback from Local Contacts :
International tournaments are indispensable experiences for countries like Sri Lanka that seek to grow, and this tournament became a valuable opportunity to grow the young generation in South Asia. I would like to express my gratitude for the successful achievement of this tournament held in Colombo thanks to the great collaboration between the teams and the stakeholders.(Mr. Jaswar Umar, CEO of FFSL) This is the first international tournament for Sri Lanka’s young generation and it was a very valuable opportunity to be able to compete seriously with overseas countries. Also, it was very good that the athletes knew where they stood.(Mr. Chikashi Suzuki, U-16 Sri Lanka national coach)
