Mart Poom said he wanted to apologise to FIFA representatives after only a handful of club officials attended the presentation of a new report on the amateur football environment in Estonia, soccernet reports.
FIFA has carried out a large-scale global study of amateur football for the first time, using data gathered in 2023. The findings have been compiled into a worldwide report as well as a Estonia-specific document of more than 300 pages, comparing local figures with those from other countries.
Former Lithuania international Tomas Danilevičius, who also served as president of the Lithuanian Football Federation, and former Georgia national team caretaker head coach Gaioz Darsadze were in Estonia last Thursday as FIFA technical consultants to present the findings.
Under FIFA’s framework, amateur football accounts for 99.8% of the game. That includes all grassroots football up to Under-12 level and recreational football in the older age groups.
The event at A. Le Coq Arena, organised by FIFA and the Estonian Football Association, attracted very limited outside attendance. Aside from FIFA and Estonian FA staff, only five people from clubs were present: Poom and Martin Klasen of Nõmme United, Martin Reim of Viimsi, Karin Lipstuhl of Vaprus and Jaanus Vislapuu of Võru Helios.
The source article said one of the report’s headline findings was that participating in football in Estonia costs eight times more than in many other countries, but that the wider issues raised by the study appeared to generate little interest locally.
___________________
Source: https://soccernet.ee/artikkel/eestis-peab-vuti-harrastamise-eest-maksma-8-korda-rohkem-kui-mujal-aga-sellised-teemad-ei-paista-eriti-kedagi-huvitavat
