Today, the city of Arkadag hosted an International Football Coaching Seminar dedicated to the opening of Turkmenistan's first "smart" city. It was organized by the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Physical Culture and Sports and the Football Federation of the country.

The forum brought together coaches of children's sports schools and private football clubs of the country. Ruslan Sulaimonov, Head of the International Relations Department of the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), took part in the seminar as an honorary guest, who congratulated those present on the opening of the Arkadag city, which has no analogues in the region.

As was noted, due to the important initiatives, put forward by the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and continued by the President of Turkmenistan to be implemented, consistent work is carried out in the country to improve people's health, stimulate and develop the mass physical culture and sports movement and get the population, especially young people, involved in it.

An example of this is the new city of Arkadag, where an excellent sports infrastructure has been created to promote the principles of a healthy lifestyle in society. It includes the Main City Department of Physical Culture and Sports, a multidisciplinary sports complex, a sports center, a stadium for 10000 seats, equipped with the appropriate equipment and tools. There are all conditions for practicing martial arts, football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, table tennis, weightlifting, athletics, gymnastics, fencing, chess, checkers and other sports, including water sports. There are also fitness, exercise and conference rooms, treatment rooms, etc. In addition to a large swimming pool, there is a children's pool with water attractions in the Sports Center.

 The city of Arkadag has a football team with the same name, which is currently successfully competing in the championship of Turkmenistan among the clubs of the major league.

President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Gianni Infantino, who visited Turkmenistan in May this year, highly appreciated the large-scale work carried out in the country to popularize the mass sports and recreation movement and sports of the highest achievements.

- In such an atmosphere, imbued with love and care for people, their health and well-being, sport, especially football, should be developed. Today, under the modern conditions of intensive industrial development the role of sports in improving human health has never been so important, and Turkmenistan has all the conditions for this," said the head of FIFA, which unites 211 national football associations.

Thanks to the great care of the President of Turkmenistan and Hero-Arkadag for the younger generation, the country pays great attention, in particular, to the development of children's football. Thus, since 2000, with active participation of Football Federation of Turkmenistan (FFT) and UNICEF organization together with FIFA «Grassroots» football festivals are held on a regular basis from March to November with participation of players of different ages.

Since 2014, the Football Federation of Turkmenistan has been actively cooperating with the Football Federation of West Asia and the Football Association of Central Asia, which unites six countries: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Every year, the Football Federation of Turkmenistan jointly with FIFA conducts international seminars to improve the skills of referees and soccer coaches in our country. One of them was held today in the conference hall of the Multidisciplinary Sports Complex.

At the seminar, the big FIFA project to develop young football talents was presented by Allaberdy Mamedkuliev, chief specialist of the Technical Department of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan.

The goal of this project, which is led in FIFA by Arsene Wenger, a well-known expert and former head coach of London's «Arsenal», is to prepare talented young people, a worthy football replacement for the national teams in order to improve the quality of football with an increase to 48 teams at the upcoming World Cup 2026 in Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Last year, 205 countries joined the project, including Turkmenistan, where football tournaments will be held in each region of the country four times a year during school vacations to select capable boys and girls for the national teams of different ages and further participation in international competitions.

As it was noted at the seminar, women's football in Turkmenistan is still taking its first steps. Last year, for the first time, Turkmen football players took part in the CAFA championship in Dushanbe among five women's teams of the region and took points from the national teams of Tajikistan (1:1) and Kyrgyzstan (0:0), leaving behind the hosts of the tournament. In the near future, the Football Federation of Turkmenistan plans to hold the national championship among women's teams on a regular basis.

Speaking about the beautiful natural conditions and the most responsible approach to the preservation of the ecological environment in the city of Arkadag, which creates excellent opportunities for football, the head of the International Federation of Association Football Gianni Infantino previously proposed to create a FIFA training and methodological center here in the future.

Incidentally, the FIFA talent development project provides for the creation of a football academy to train talented football players. The speakers noted that there are all conditions for the emergence of the first such Academy in Turkmenistan.

The training of coaching staff is the second direction that the Football Federation of Turkmenistan will be engaged in within the framework of the above–mentioned FIFA project. In this regard, the FFT plans to launch for the first time in the country in August of this year training courses for coaches to obtain a PRO license, which gives the right to work with national teams and club teams in any country of the world. The courses will consist of four modules and are designed for 9-month training.

During the seminar, the participants also discussed the issues of certification of football players, their status and the procedure for the transfer of players from club to club in accordance with the current FIFA regulations.