GOALS wins UEFA Grassroots awards 2023/24 as best amateur club

GOALS wins UEFA Grassroots awards 2023/24 as best amateur club.

This year’s winner of the UEFA Grassroots Award for best amateur club, GOALS – the Girls of Armenia Leadership Sports Educational Foundation – gives girls in Armenia the chance to change historical and cultural norms through grassroots football.

GOALS was launched in 2016 as a response to this perception and the subsequent lack of opportunities for girls to partake in sport in Armenia. It provides football activities for girls aged ten to 17, aiming to promote gender equality through sport. Its positive impact has been wide-ranging and substantial, and this has been recognised with the 2023/24 UEFA Grassroots Award for best amateur club.

GOALS is dedicated to developing football opportunities and programmes for young women in rural Armenia. They have established girls’ leagues in eight of Armenia’s eleven regions, involving more than 800 players, and organise regular training sessions and camps as well as social and leadership initiatives. The foundation even hosts the GOALS National Cup every year in partnership with the Football Federation of Armenia.

This year GOALS plans to organise 20 football festivals across the country. Each festival will host four different communities, with a mix of boys and girls. It is hoped that as many as six new teams will be formed following the festivals.

The UEFA Grassroots Awards are annual awards given to grassroots football clubs and projects that have made outstanding contributions to the game across Europe. Candidates are nominated by Europe’s national football associations, with the winners selected by UEFA’s Development and Technical Assistance Committee following recommendations from UEFA’s Grassroots Panel.

This year, the UEFA Grassroots Awards are presented in partnership with EA SPORTS FC, as part of the broader partnership between the UEFA Grassroots programme and EA SPORTS FC FUTURES. Each gold winner receives a prize of €10,000 to further contribute to their fantastic work being carried out.