QFA, FFSL renew co-operation agreement

The Qatar Football Association (QFA) signed a co-operation agreement with its Sri Lankan counterpart at the Al Bidda Tower in Doha. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, President of the QFA and Anura De Silva, President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) signed the agreement yesterday.The signing ceremony for renewal of agreement was attended by Saoud al-Mohannadi, Vice President of the QFA, Mansoor al-Ansari, General Secretary of the QFA, Hani Ballan, QFA Board Member, Ali Dawood, Exceutive Director of the QFA President office and Mohamed Rameez, Senior Executive Committee Member of the FFSL. QFA and FFSL had signed a three-year agreement in 2013 that also aimed to focus on the exchange of expertise and knowledge in various fields.  The four-year agreement will be focusing on exchanging expertise and experience in various areas such as administration, coaching, sports medicine, refereeing, youth football and women football, infrastructure development, marketing and national teams.Anura De Silva said: “We are very happy with the content of the agreement which will provide both countries with the opportunity of knowledge exchange, in terms of football governance, coaching, player education, as well as the medical facilities which we can use from Aspire Academy. “I cannot extend my stay for a long period in Qatar to allow us to visit many facilities around Qatar and our stay has been limited for two days only, but we had a very encouraging meeting with the President of QFA and also had a tour at the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy Pavilion which showed us the preparations, overall progress of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar and how Qatar has emerged in the football world and is now preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.”QFA recently signed a series of co-operation agreements in mid-October, which focus on areas of co-operation with counterparts from the Asia region, those were with the Oman Football Association, Uzbekistan Football Federation, Korea Football Association, Japan Football Association, and Iraq Football Association, is set to sign more in the coming days with the Football Federation of Maldives and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran.  In recent years, QFA has also signed several agreements with its Yemeni, Palestinian, German, Italian, Pakistani, and Kyrgyz counterparts, which demonstrates Qatar’s openness and ongoing co-operation with all nations aiming at strengthening its relations with various federations across all continents.