FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Tuesday night assured Philippine Football Federation president John Gutierrez of FIFA’s support to PFF’s programs particularly to talent development.
Infantino met with Gutierrez at the sidelines of the FIFA Club World Cup 2023™️ in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Joining them were FIFA Council member and former PFF president Mariano Araneta, FIFA secretary general ad interim Mathias Grafstrom and FIFA director of Member Association development for Asia and Oceania Sanjeevan Balasingam.
“I was pleased to meet Philippine Football Federation (PFF) President John Gutierrez in Jeddah to discuss future plans for talent development in his country and congratulate him on his recent election,” said Infantino. “The football progress made by the Philippines has been fantastic, highlighted by the women’s national team’s first-ever win at the FIFA Women’s World Cup™️ earlier this year. FIFA will keep working with everyone there so that together we can spread the joy of our beautiful game to girls and boys at all levels in the Philippines.”
Buoyed by the success of the Philippine Women’s National Team, which made history by beating New Zealand, 1-0, in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™️, and subsequently rise to its highest FIFA ranking in history at 38th, Gutierrez hopes that these milestones will inspire the growth of the Beautiful Game in the country.
The PFF is embarking on a year-long program starting January with competitions and activities including the FIFA Football for Schools, which was launched last November.
“We would like to be able to provide our young boys and girls with the kind of training and the kind of exposure that is available in other countries – in countries that have already established their dominance in the beautiful game,” said Gutierrez, who is in Jeddah upon the invitation of FIFA.
“We would like to adapt, if not replicate, the kind of development that these countries have, and, hopefully, with the help of FIFA, with the support of FIFA, we will be able to achieve this goal.”