The Local Organising Committee of the UEFA European Under 17 Championship Finals which will be held in Malta in May, has extended the REACH OUT campaign to the local football nurseries with the launch of the Nurseries Zone and to the various sectors of society with the One-Time Zone.

Football Nurseries are being invited to organise groups of young football players, offering them the opportunity to enjoy ‘The Stadium Experience’, and attend for the final match of the UEFA European Under 17 Championships.

This initiative is targeting children (boys and girls), aged 8 years and over, and who regularly attend to football activities at these nurseries. There will be no capping on the number of young players that can attend from each Football Nursery and nurseries may opt to attend for more than one match.

These initiatives will also carry incentives for both the football nurseries themselves and the participating individuals, by way of sports equipment, tournamnent-branded tokens, as well as extending the invitation to a number of parents from each football nursery.

It is expected that more than 4000 young football nursery members and about 2000 nursery administrators and parents will avail themselves from this opportunity.

On Saturday, it was the turn of Local Councils to formally receive the invitation. The ONE TIME ZONE was launched by MFA Head of Marketing, Norman Saliba, at the Local Council Association’s meeting for Mayors and Deputy Mayors held in Qawra.

ONE TIME ZONE is aimed at giving the opportunity of the stadium experience during the European Under-17 Finals, to people coming from different sectors of society who do not normally follow the game of football. Youth Clubs and Organisations, Sports Organisations, Ecclesiastical Organisations, Band Clubs, NGOs, Local Councils, and other similar organisations, are being encouraged to send in their requests for complimentary tickets for their members and/or people who work close to them.

Those participating in this initiative will not only benefit from a complimentary ticket for one of the matches from the final tournament, but those making use of this ticket will also get a commemorative T-Shirt and will be eligible to participate in a lottery.

This follows the extremely successful EDUCATION ZONE campaign which has attracted a total of 72 applications from state and non-state schools from Malta and Gozo to organise groups of school children to enjoy the stadium esperience at one or more of the tournament matches. This is expected to result in more than 15,000 boys and girls to attend to the stadia for morning matches.

More than 50 state and non-state schools have also applied to participate in the educational exhibition project.

Photo (2): Copyright © Keith Abela (AKL)