Campaign to bring more girls in football

FIFA and the Japanese Football Association launched today the third Live Your Goals festival in Japan. The series of 20 festivals is part of the FIFA Live Your Goals campaign which aims at developing women’s football and increasing the number of players in Japan. The campaign is an essential part of the legacy programme in Japan which has been launched on 3 April 2012 and which is supported by FIFA and implemented by the JFA during the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Japan 2012. 17 Live Your Goals festivals will be organised during the tournament, featuring a total of 1500 girls and promoting women’s and girls’ football on match days. The press conference organised today on the occasion of the Fukushima city Live Your Goals festival took place at the Azuma Athletic Stadium and was attended by Junji Ogura, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, FIFA’s Head of Women’s Competitions Tatjana Haenni and the World champion and Olympic silver medalist Japanese coach Norio Sasaki. Junji Ogura underlined “the importance of keeping the momentum of the Nadeshiko success to prepare the next generation with a special focus on U12 and U15 young girls. With this legacy programme we want to reach the 300’000 female players registered by 2015”. “With Live Your Goals, FIFA is aiming to use the popularity and worldwide coverage of all FIFA women’s tournaments to encourage young women and girls to play football. We have the best platforms to promote the game and its values towards young girls and the world.” said Tatjana Haenni during the press conference. Norio Sasaki insisted “on the major role of such campaign and legacy programme as players are developing and improving their technical skills when they are young.” As part of the legacy programme, FIFA and the JFA will also activate other projects such as the development of the U15 Women’s League in Japan, the education of coaches, referees and officials. The FIFA campaign launched in 2011 for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in Germany aims at inspiring women and girls all over the world to participate in football. Featuring some of the stars of the women’s national teams, Live Your Goals targets the next generation of women’s footballers around the globe. 29 million women worldwide now actively participate in organised football matches and many others are playing the game outside of local structures. FIFA is continually working alongside its Member Associations to ensure that there is an infrastructure that allows women and girls to participate in the sport. The Live Your Goals campaign has now been launched in Japan, Azerbaijan and Costa Rica. FIFA