AFC President visits Chengdu, donates for fustal park

AFC President Mohamed Bin Hamman arrived in Chengdu on April 7 and made a donation of US$530,000 to the Chengdu Football Association to help the city revive its football industry after the May 12 devastating earthquake in Sichuan province last year.
 
The money will be used for reviving the city's football activities in the post-quake aftermath as part of Vision China Project Chengdu. Hammam said he was looking forward to the opening of a fustal park that is being built in Chengdu with the donated funds. He also expects to come and visit again when the park is completed.
 
The park, the first-purpose-built fustal park in China, will be located in the south of Chengdu. It will cover an area of 20,000 sq meters and feature 10 standard fustal pitches and two sandy pitches. It will be also equipped with auxiliary facilities, including multifunctional canteen, tea houses, bars, cafes, saunas, franchised stores and parking lots. After the completion, the park will give free access to primary and middle school students on a regular basis.
 
Last year, when the earthquake rocked Sichuan, Hamman and Xie Yalong, former VP of the Chinese Football Association were attending a soccer forum in a Chengdu Hotel. Recalling the quake, Hamman said the earthquake brought great disaster to the people in the region but he was impressed by the strength and spirit that the local people showed the world in overcoming extremely difficult times. He felt deeply for the people and understood the difficulties they must be going through. AFC is willing to do something and the best way is to provide financial aid for the development of football.