From Tuesday 13 to Thursday 15 November, the second AFC Grassroots Conference was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as grassroots representatives from various Member Associations of the AFC gathered to underline the importance in developing grassroots football in Asia.

During the conference, the first ever AFC Special Grassroots Awards Ceremony took place, as three awards; Best Grassroots Leader Award, Best Grassroots Project Award, Best Grassroots Club Award, were given out.

-Best Grassroots Leader Award
-Best Grassroots Project Award
-Best Grassroots Club Award

The Japan Football Association (JFA) was awarded with the “Best Grassroots Project Award,” and JFA Kids Project Leader MINAGAWA Shinichi represented the JFA to receive the award. The JFA was credited for the “JFA Festival” that are held over 600 times a year by the 47 Prefectural Football Associations.

In another session, the JFA was awarded with the AFC Grassroots Charter Gold membership for its work in grassroots football. The Grassroots Charter is a development tool for Member Associations to raise the quality of their grassroots programmes. It identifies 20 performance categories, and the JFA has excelled in all criteria to be named as the second ever Gold member, the highest level of its kind, next to Australia.

These two Grassroots Awards were only made possible by the tireless efforts made by the 47 Prefectural Football Associations and everybody involved in the development of grassroots football in Japan. The JFA will like to share this honour with the entire Football Family of Japan.

Comment of JFA Kids Project Leader MINAGAWA Shinichi

I am very honoured to receive this wonderful award in behalf of the JFA. The festivals carried out by the 47 Prefectural Football Associations since 2003 was recognised by the AFC, as each festival were held for various people, such as kids, women, family, people with disabilities and etc. We wouldn’t be receiving this award without the tireless efforts made by the people involved with the 47 Prefectural Football Associations. We will continue to strive to further develop the environment for grassroots football in Japan.