UEFA maintains commitment to Nyon sport

UEFA created the Foundation for the Development of Sport in Nyon in 2000, with a capital of CHF3,150,000, in recognition of the help given by the authorities in Nyon when the body settled in the town.

The foundation's aim is to help Nyon-based sports clubs and encourage local people, and especially young people, to practise a sporting discipline. It assists in the upgrading of sports installations in the town, and finances training or improvement programmes run for young people by the sports clubs in the town of some 19,000 inhabitants, situated on the banks of Lake Geneva in western Switzerland.

A board manages the foundation's activities, and consists of the mayor of Nyon, the municipal official responsible for sport and a representative of UEFA.

Awards for 2015 have gone to Stade Nyonnais (football); Pétanque Nyonnaise (pétanque); Triathlon de Nyon (triathletes); Cova Nyon (support to high-jumper Vivien Streit); Samaritains, section Nyon (event support); Cercle d'Echecs de Nyon (chess); Cercle des Nageurs de Nyon (swimming).

The funds allocated are to be deployed in a variety of ways – these include purchasing equipment, funding training camps, developing installations, organising international events, and helping sportsmen and women to take part in national and international competitions, thereby giving them the opportunity to meet counterparts elsewhere and discover other parts of the world while pursuing their sporting ambitions.

Since it was established, the foundation has subsidised Nyon sports clubs and individuals to the amount of CHF985,000. Each year, sportsmen/women and sports clubs/bodies in Nyon submit requests to the foundation for funding, giving detailed information on the reasons for their request, and the foundation makes its selection of projects after thorough examination.

"The support of the foundation for sport in Nyon is important, because sport plays a significant role in the town's life, and makes an important contribution to Nyon's identity. We are fortunate to have a lot of sports clubs and sporting activities in Nyon, and the number of projects submitted to the foundation demonstrates the positive [sporting] energy that exists in the town."
Daniel Rossellat, mayor of Nyon

Following over three decades based in the Swiss federal capital Berne, UEFA moved to temporary premises in Nyon 20 years ago, ahead of the construction of the House of European Football on the outskirts of the town. The new headquarters were opened for business in October 1999, and UEFA now operates from a football campus which contains three buildings.

In 2010, UEFA took over the management of the Stade de Colovray, opposite the House of European Football. The stadium, which is home to the town's football club Stade Nyonnais, has played host to the UEFA Youth League final round and European youth competition finals. Major European club and national teams have also trained and played there, and leading European referees of the future are nurtured at the facilities, which house UEFA's Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE).