21/10/2015
Abdullah ibn Musaed asserts that roles and regulations for clubs and leagues are currently being updated
His royal highness, Prince Abdullah ibn Musaed, General President of Youth Welfare and the president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee has commenced the sports investment forum, which is organized by Asharqia chamber of commerce. The forum as held on Thursday morning, October 15, 2015. His royal highness sponsors it, and a number of local and foreign experts has participated in it, as well as officials in the sports sector in the region. His royal highness has asserted that the roles and regulations of the clubs and leagues will be updated and altered. He added that the sports industry in the region has bright future with many investment opportunities available. He mentioned that there are some efforts to limit the amount of debt Saudi clubs owe, and the certain measure have been taken assert the transparency of the aforementioned clubs. He added that this step will surely reinforce the investors confident and attract them to invest in clubs and in the sector in general. He mentioned that the sector is fully supported by his Royal highness king Salman bin Abdulaziz and the crown prince Muhammad bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, First Deputy Prime Minister, as well as crown prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia. We all strive to create a competitive sector, that has many investment opportunities. He added that the youth welfare vision is concerned with two aspects; competitive sports and spreading awareness about sports generally. There has been efforts to regulate and organize the competitive sports in the region. As for spreading awareness about the essential role of sports, the youth welfare has many programs that work primarily on promoting a healthier lifestyle that involves working out and playing sports. He added that this forum is a great opportunity to discuss current obstacles and issue faced by the sports sector, and a chance to find suitable solutions.
For his part, Abdul Rahman bin Saleh Al-Otaishan, Chairman of Asharqia Chamber said that the chamber of commerce considers the sports filed as an opportunity for many potential businesses, especially that this forum coinceds with the second GCC Olympic games, which is held in Dammam and sponsored by his Royal highness, king Salman bin Abdulaziz. This opportunity can target local and foreign investors. Thus, many investment ideas, which are highly profitable, would become available. That create more job opportunities for Saudi youth. Especially, with the growing interest in sports services and products, and the growing awareness that sports should be integrated into our daily routine.
He said that the funds for the sector has increased by 25% than the previous years, which shows the attention the government has been paying to develop the sector. Nevertheless, despite the effort, the sector still requires immense work, and he mentioned that the chamber of commerce is one of the first entities that has formed committees to evaluate sports investments, and are specialized in such field. For his part, Hussain bin Abdullah Abdulwahab, CEO of Arkan business group HAS Thanked all the supporters and sponsors of this forum, especially prince His royal highness, Prince Abdullah ibn Musaed, General President of Youth Welfare, as well as the sports investment committee in Asharqia chamber of commerce for their tremendous efforts. And he expressed his hopes for the sector to develop and improve. He expressed his hope that this forum would turn out to be a success like the pervious forums.
this forum would include three sessions. The first session will be titled “a shared vision for individuality” where the managing director of of cars sant cugat center, mr Carlos Felsca, has spoken. He reviewed the center’s experience and asserted on the importance of sports and working out for young people as well as senior citizens. Mr felsca has reviewed a number of deathly diseases such as obesity and high cholesterol which all can be avoided by working out, and mentioned that athletes are considered ambassadors for their countries abroad. While the second session had discussed the “impressive performance of sport sciences and technical services”. Mr. Javier Matis, the technical and medical sciences expert in the cars sant cugat center discussed this topic. He asserted on the importance of education to athletes as well as all other aspects of health, psychological and even technical to improve their performance. That can only be achieved with the cooperation of the public sector with the private sector to reach the desired goals. The speaker of the third session was the CEO of Johan Cruyff institute, Todd Beane, discussed the issue of “developing the perfect champion”. He mentioned that this task is not an easy one, it is multilayered, and most football development programs rely on young talents and improving what they already have. Moreover, he asserted that having talent alone does not equate to success, but rather having a talented coach and an institution that sponsors you is as essential as being talented. He mentioned that learning from past players is important as well and bad habits should be avoided at any cost. He asserted on the importance of teamwork and listening to the coach or coaches, and mentioned that investors have a vital role in talent development, sometimes as essential as the role of coaches themselves. In addition, he concluded quoting Cruyff when he said that the hardest thing in football is to play it effortlessly.
