UEFA helps Nyon sport
Monday, November 19, 2012
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UEFA's contribution to grassroots sport in its Swiss home town of Nyon is helping local sportsmen/women and clubs to fulfill their ambitions in numerous sporting disciplines.
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European football's governing body has been based in Nyon since 1995, after moving from the Swiss federal capital, Berne. UEFA pledges to be proactive in helping to promoting sport and the activities of sportsmen and women in the western Swiss town on the banks of Lake Geneva.
UEFA has participated in the Fondation pour le Développement du Sport (Foundation for the Development of Sport) since 2000. The aim of this foundation is to motivate young people in particular to practise a sporting discipline, through the subsidisation of Nyon-based sports clubs, to develop the training and coaching of youngsters, and to help improve local sports infrastructures. The foundation is managed by a board which consists of the mayor of Nyon, the municipal official responsible for sport and a representative of UEFA.
The foundation enables annual awards to be given to sportsmen/women and sports clubs and associations from Nyon. The latest ceremony at the House of European Football saw four awards made to local sports organisations who had submitted projects – Nyon Tchoukball Club (tchoukball), COVA Nyon (athletics), Judo Team de Nyon (judo) and L’Association des Championnats d’Europe de vélo (cycling). The 2011 award winners also gave presentations of their activities over the past 12 months.
The programme can help individuals, especially elite sportsmen/women living in Nyon, or sports installations in the town in need of funding for their members to practise a specific sport or to stage sports events. It also finances training or improvement programmes organised by Nyon's sports clubs for young people. "The project applications show the diversity of the different sports and extraordinary commitment of sports club and committee members in the town. Sport is part of Nyon's identity and quality," said the mayor of Nyon, Daniel Rossellat.
Nyon is a town of just over 19,000 inhabitants, and UEFA settled in the House of European Football in October 1999 after working from temporary premises for four years. UEFA operates on a campus comprising three buildings on the edge of the town. "Thank you to UEFA – we are extremely fortunate that UEFA’s headquarters are situated in our town," Daniel Rossellat added.
