The power of FIFA - a football match in the centre of Bhutan's capital city

I was in Bhutan last month on holiday with my wife and in-laws. Before the trip, the only two things I knew about this small country was that it was voted "Happiest Country in the World" in an index ranking the Gross National Happiness and that not too long ago it was ranked lowest in the world (209th out of 209 member countries) in the FIFA rankings. 

As we landed in the beautiful Paro Valley, I started getting excited in the anticipation of being around happy people and experiencing majestic landscape. What I wasn't anticipating was discussing or seeing anything connected to football which is typically one of the ways I like to explore a new country. So you can imagine my surprise when our eccentric tour guide Yashi took us to the national football stadium to watch a local match on the second day of trip. 

The stadium was beautifully situated right in the heart of Bhutan's capital city Thimpu and I was blown away by the quality of the pitch and passion in the stands. Thousands of people filled Changlimithang Stadium all happily spending their Saturday evening watching a mediocre domestic league match. It was incredible to see many Bhuddist monks cheering on the home team alongside poor villagers, rich businessmen and families.  My whole family had a blast and ended up watching most of the 90 minute match - not because of the quality of the product but because of the cultural experience of watching professional sport in new country.  

I later found out that the pitch was a gift from FIFA which was donated in 2012 as part of FIFA's Goal project.  For me this was another sign of the power of the beautiful game and the opportunity that FIFA has to positively impact communities all over the world.  

Sharing a few pictures:








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 Cities, 3 Football Academies

Image
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a few of the top youth football Academies in India.  It’s always interesting to see first-hand some of the blood, sweat and tears football administrators are investing into the future of the sport in the country.  Not to mention, I love experiencing different cultures, norms and idiosyncrasies in each place I visit (there are many).  I won't get too deep into my personal adventures and challenges of traveling through West Bengal and Punjab in the insanely hot month of May.  I'll need to save those for another blog.   I've included the places I’ve visited with some pictures. Pailan World School (Kolkata) http://www.pailanworldschool.com/ Workers putting in artificial turf for the new FIFA Youth Academy Chandigarh Football Academy http://chandigarh.gov.in/dept_sports7.htm The hostel where the CFA players live YFC Rurka Kalan (Rurka Kalan, Punjab...
Read more

Liverpool International Football Academy Coaches – Ray Curtis and Michael Rice

Image
The last half of 2013 was one ongoing conversation about the proposed partnership between Liverpool Football Club and our client DSK Group.  We all knew that only good could come out of this relationship, however we also knew that the level of good would be contingent on the coaches which Liverpool FC selected to represent the Academy in India.  This point couldn’t be hammered home any harder as I’ve seen countless projects fail in India due to the international club’s inability to identify the right type of coaches to make the trip to India. It’s not that these coaches lacked technical expertise or coaching ability, actually that’s never the case, it’s that they lacked a positive attitude and patience.  I actually wrote a post about this which can be found a few months back.  The coaches selected to run the Liverpool International Football Academy DSK Shivajians, Ray and Michael, were handpicked by a trusted member of the Liverpool FC international programming...
Read more

Barcelona

Image
A few months ago my client at Conscient Football and I were discussing options for an "Exposure Trip" we were planning for a group of Delhi based youth footballers.  The obvious locations came up; Manchester, London, Milan, Madrid, Munich, etc... But then Barcelona was mentioned and it was obvious that the meeting was over right then and there. There were no other options.  Barcelona is located in the country that just won the most recent FIFA World Cup, is home to the best football club in the world and home to the best football player in the world.  Why would we take the players anywhere else??? So fast forward to May 12th.  I'm at Indira Gandhi airport in Delhi with 3 other staff members meeting with 27 sets of parents and assuring them that their little princes will be fine.  I'm holding passports, collecting forms, smiling widely, shaking hands and doing my best to exude confidence and responsibility.  Somehow we get the 27 players thr...
Read more