Official Gathering to Send off the Officials of the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam to the JENESYS 2015 Japan-ASEAN Girls’ Under-14 Football Exchange Programme
Before the five officials of the National Football Association depart for Japan to participate in the “JENESYS 20151 Japan-ASEAN2 Girls’ Under-14 Football Exchange Programme” (from 10th to 18th March), the Japanese Ambassador Madam Noriko Iki hosted an official gathering at her residence on 8th March. Apart from the five officials (please see the attached list), Pg Mohd Amirrizal Bin Pg Hj Mahmud, Assistant General Secretary of the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam, Mr Michael Wong Mun Heng, Technical Director and Mr Takao Fujiwara, Japanese Head Coach of Brunei’s Under-15 Football Team sent by the Japan Football Association were also invited.
The JENESYS 2015 programme, which is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, aims to foster mutual understanding among youths from participating countries and to build bases for future friendship and cooperation among Asian and Oceania regions. The “JENESYS 2015 Japan-ASEAN Girls’ Under-14 Football Exchange Programme” has been planned in close cooperation with the Japan Football Association and organised as the “Under-14 Girls’ Football Festival” to encourage the interaction of youth players among participating ASEAN countries and Japan. This festival has been planned in commemoration of the 40th year of the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, celebrated in 2013.
It is hoped that the Under-14 Girls’ National Teams will benefit from international games among all participating countries as these are developed, with some participants returning to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games. As Brunei does not currently have a Girls’ National Team, five officials from the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam have been selected to contribute to the future development of Bruneian football. They will participate in discussions with officials from Japan and other participating countries, and observe matches and visit stadiums3.
The programme will take place mainly in the Shizuoka Prefecture, which is located in the centre of Japan and hosts Mt. Fuji, a symbol of Japan. Football is especially popular in this prefecture and prominent Japanese football players have originated from the Shizuoka area.
The Embassy of Japan hopes to further strengthen their close relationship with Brunei through this sports exchange, which Japan is promoting under the “Sport for Tomorrow”4 programme launched by Prime Minister Abe at the IOC meeting in September 2013.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________