FYROM hails two-week grassroots festival

The Football Association of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FFM) was very active for UEFA Grassroots Day, marking the occasion with two weeks of activities for all categories of the grassroots football community.

Starting with a tournament involving around 100 Special Olympics players on 22 May, the FFM also arranged a mixed gender day of fun-based football activities in Bogovinje involving over 200 children, an event for almost 100 orphans, and Champions Days for both boys and girls organised to coincide with the UEFA Champions League finals for men and women.

"We aimed to target groups such as people with disabilities, children from orphanages, girls and women's football, the youngest footballers from the football clubs and, of course, all the boys and girls who get to experience grassroots football much closer through their participation in these events," FFM grassroots manager Bojan Markovski told UEFA.com.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's UEFA Grassroots Day fortnight concluded on 4 June with activities before the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland at Skopje's newly-completed National Arena Filip II Macedonian. Around 120 children aged between ten and 12 played on specially arranged mini-pitches, while before kick-off for the evening's main event 30 Special Olympics players took to the pitch to be greeted by cheers from the 30,000-strong crowd.

"The reaction of all the participants was very positive. Some of those involved in these events have even already taken their next steps in grassroots football by continuing to train with a few football clubs," said Markovski. "This means we can already see the impact of organising all these grassroots events, which once again shows how much important UEFA Grassroots Day is for the FMM and for grassroots football in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."