Each year, the President of the World Minifootball Association, Filip Juda, writes to the fans, players and officials of minifootball to update them on the very latest developments and to look forward to the coming year.
Here is this years letter.
Dear friends and fans of Minifootball,
It is my honour to share the past moments of the year 2014 with you and to present the planned activities of the World Minifootball Federation for the year 2015.
Fatty food, alcoholic drinks, expensive Christmas presents, Christmas parties full of overeating, all that is now behind us and now a hard shock comes again.
January is the time when we step on the scales and start to worry! A fat bag wrapped around our waist is laughing at us in the mirror, not to mention the hangover after New Year’s celebration or all the unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions. I think the winter period of the year could be a bit frustrating for some of us. Especially for those who have doughnuts for breakfast, hamburgers for a snack and a pork belly for lunch. If your magnetic chip to the gym hasn’t worked for a few months, then the New Year’s Day is the right day when you make a resolution to lose the bag on your waist before summer.
If exercise is not your hobby then put on your cross-country skis and jog in the running track. You will burn fat and what is more you will refresh your head. Instructions on how to enjoy the snowy plains and how to run through the freezing days towards a better condition will surely appear at many of the internet portals that deal with this topic. But enough has been said about the end of the year and its traditions. Let’s see what the past year 2014 brought in Minifootball and what the current year is supposed to bring.
After the General Assembly of the Pan-American Confederation of Minifootball which took place at the end of 2013 in Mexico, a General Assembly of the European Minifootball Federation was held in Poland in January 2014 and the first Asian Minifootball Confederation General Council Meeting took place in India in February. I was present at all these three events and I must congratulate the management on the excellent organization of congresses of all continental federations. In Poland we discussed the most important question which was the venue of MiniEuro 2014 and we finally chose Eilat in Israel. In India the main item of the agenda was primarily the start up and the code of rules of the Asian Minifootball Confederation.
April and May was for me a chance to check on the development of the European Minifootball Federation, specifically of the increase in the number of member countries. For this purpose I personally visited Belgium, France and Belarus, which are currently (except for Belgium) in the preparation phase for inclusion into the EMF.
In the end of May in Baltimore in the USA, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Minifootball Federation was held, which primarily dealt with the agenda of the upcoming World Cup in Minifootball in 2015. It will take place in 12 different cities and will be attended by 16 countries. The Executive Committee also dealt with the development of information systems of Minifootball, which is one of the most important points of development.
In the first half of the year, I also began to focus on new projects of the World Minifootball Federation, relating to the development of Minifootball in countries so called “Third World” and so I connected the goals of the World Minifootball Federation with an American nonprofit organization that organizes and uses the matches of Minifootball as a tool for congregation, respect and social inclusion of people in these locations. The aim of this project is both material support, i.e. the use of unneeded sports equipment and facilities from players in developed countries, but also financial support – in the form of applied information system, generating passive income. Last year, in relation to this matter, I also visited one of the world’s poorest countries – Haiti – with the aim of establishing a minifootball association there and its subsequent development. Following the further progress of this project, I am flying to the US Ohio immediately in January 2015, where I will take part in further discussion regarding the development of this project.
At the end of May, I then dealt with support of the establishment of a training centre of World Minifootball Federation in Israel, which should be in charge of training for referees, delegates and regional and national organizers of Minifootball.
In June I was in Dubai dealing with interconnection of the activities of the World Minifootball Federation with another organization. Primarily, it was the world’s Champions League of clubs and World Championship including continental championships. This idea is still developing and I believe that in the first half of this year it could move significantly forward.
After returning from the United Arab Emirates, I accepted the invitation of the Lithuanian Minifootball Union to visit a potential venue for the European Minifootball Championships in 2016. Together with the key men in Lithuanian Federation – Kestutis Bagonas and Tomas Butkus and I also met with the new leader of Latvian Minifootball Association – Mareks Kere, who later in 2015 led his national team at this year’s European Championships in Montenegro.
The beginning of July I spent in Brazil, where I met with the leadership of the Brazilian Minifootball Association. The meeting was very pleasant and together we managed in a constructive debate to set next elements in the development of a minifootball in the world. In particular, we managed to incorporate the requirements of Brazil into a strategic document for the development of Minifootball in the world. Harmony on the path of development and the incorporation of requirements of individual countries, I take it as very important for the further progression of the world Minifootball.
The rest of the summer was then marked by solving the situation in Israel. Due to the local issues between Israel and Palestine, we had to forget about the possibility of organizing the MiniEuro in this country and the European Minifootball Federation was faced with the question of whether or not to organize the championship. However, several candidates appeared to host the championship from which finally Montenegro won, which organized in what was thought to be a record time of two months (although, on reflection, perhaps Moldova in 2012 needed less time to organize the MiniEuro) an outstanding European Championships. The organizers and members of management of Montenegro Minifootball Union deserve great appreciation.
Before this, in early September, I flew to New York for a meeting regarding the international status of the World Minifootball Federation.
Next meeting of the Executive Committee of the World Minifootball Federation was held in October, this time in the US Dallas, which again dealt with other points of implementation and preparation of the World Cup in minifootball 2015.
In November, I then flew to Lebanon, in the matter of development of minifootball in this country and other Arab countries.
The second half of November then was devoted to MiniEuro in Montenegro, where we first tested the new web and mobile applications for international championships in mini football. Both applications formed the base for the development of other information systems in minifootball, which I took charge of in the World Minifootball Federation, together with the development of minifootball in other countries where the World Minifootball Federation does not yet have its own national “branch”. The outcome of the web application can be seen here: www.minieuro2014.com
From my perspective, last year was a year of development. At the moment the World Minifootball Federation controls development projects in many countries, e.g. in Slovakia, Ukraine, Haiti, Lebanon, Nepal, Bangladesh, and I personally am preparing also an update of the concept of development of Minifootball in Asia and Australia. Concerning the supervision of development in Asia, I would like to continue communicating with my colleague from Singapore and allocate him with my colleague from the Association of minifootball in the Czech Republic. Together, they would stand for progressive development of minifootball in Asia in 2015.
I would name the year 2015 a year for developing information systems. The aim of this year is to deploy a new information system of the World Minifootball Federation at continental and national and regional level. The pilot countries will be the Czech Republic, followed by Mexico, the USA and Romania. This does not mean that the site for the national associations cannot be applied at the same time in Slovakia, Nepal and other countries.
An important point that I would like to resolve in 2015, is the unification of events of the continental federations and the World Minifootball Federation.
In 2015 communication among members of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and committees of the European Minifootball Federation must be restructured, as well as the EMF must restructure the project of European Minifootball Championship. I believe that my concept of communication that EMF Executive Committee approved in the autumn and a new concept of the European Championship which I both proposed will be successfully implemented in the first half of this year.
In 2015, I would also like to focus on a project called “Get the ball, not drugs”, which should show minifootball as a tool for prevention of drug addiction, crime and violence, and as a tool for social inclusion. The advantage of minifootball over other sports is that it has the most sports facilities in the world. A minifootball pitch can be found in almost every town. The second advantage is undoubtedly its simplicity and low cost.
In 2015, I would like to continue preparations for the implementation of the World League of clubs, which I take as very important in conjunction with an increase in the motivation of players and the credibility of minifootball in countries whose national associations are members of WMF.
Finally, I would like to mention that all the points listed above, which I managed to realize, or are in the stage of progression, would hardly be handled if I did not have such an excellent team around me. I mean the members of the Executive Committee of the World Minifootball Federation, but also members of the Executive Committees of continental federations, presidents of the national minifootball associations and members of the particular commissions. I am extremely happy with such a team and I really enjoy this co-operation which helps the development of a minifootball very much. I also thank my friends who helped me with the development of minifootball at the world level.
I would like to make minifootball into a tool that brings people together, gives them a sense of belonging, and all this to such an extent that religious affiliation or regional differences are completely forgotten. I would like respect and tolerance, love and friendship which are often missing in society to be back among the people.
Finally, let me go back to the introduction, where I mentioned the Christmas period. Whether you spend it skiing in the white track or you lengthen your Christmas holidays with a glass of red wine by the fireplace, I would like to wish everyone to spend this winter in peace and happiness and to enjoy the nicest and most original presents.
I wish you a wonderful new year 2015. Let it be full of health, love and happiness.
Filip Juda
President of WMF