Freestyle Football

Name    : Syed Nassir


Topic : Ministry Of Youth and Sports

Freestyle football is not new to the world of sports. There are some who say it has existed since the early 1900s. But its popularity has sharply increased in the last decade.

A number of professional footballers who are household names are big fans of freestyle football. Players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Edgar Davids, Jermaine Jenas, Rio Ferdinand are amongst the few who have been actively promoting the sport.

To many, the best thing about freestyle football is its simplicity. You don’t need a court, or a field or even a partner. All you need to enjoy this sport is a football. I am sure many of us have practiced juggling the ball or have played ‘timbang bola’ when we were kids. But freestyle football is not just about keeping the ball in the air. It is about style. It is about music. It has elements of dance. And most of all, freestyle football is about your skill and creativity. Also,

as Malaysians it should come easy being that sepak takraw is a sport Malaysia has developed.

The World Freestyle Football Championships, to be held in Kuala Lumpur from 16-18 September 2011 at Sunway Pyramid is the very first world championships to ever be held. As Malaysians, we can be proud to play host to sixteen of the world’s top ranked freestyle footballers who will be showing off their repertoire of incredible tricks in their bid to emerge as the first World Freestyle Football champion. These freestylers come from countries all over the globe, such as the United States of America, Sweden, England, Hungary, Australia, Korea, France, Poland, South Africa, Brazil and Japan.

As we experience the best international freestyle football artists perform in our own backyard, there is hope that the young – and perhaps also the not-so-young but the young-at-heart – will take to the sport. It is through events like these that we can generate the interest and exposure to begin laying the foundations to develop the sport in the country.

Currently, it can be said that Malaysian football is experiencing something of a revival. Our national team’s victory in the AFF Suzuki Cup last year, coupled with our progress into the finals of the Olympic qualification round and the next round of the World Cup qualifiers has filled the ‘rakyat’ with enthusiasm and passion for football once again, as evidenced by the packed to capacity Bukit Jalil stadium during our matches against Indonesia and Taiwan recently.

It is clear that football flows through our veins as Malaysians. It is our most popular sport and having seen the excitement and sk

ill present in freestyle football, I am convinced that by organising an event of this stature on our shores, Malaysians in general will find freestyle football equally fascinating, exciting and captivating. It is my great hope that we can follow through to create a large movement of freestyle footballers in the country and boost the interest and development within the sport locally. Maybe one day,

our country can also produce freestyle footballers that will rival the best.From an economic and tourism perspective, the World Freestyle Football Championships 2011 will benefit Malaysia in many ways. A world-class event like this requires various aspects of management and event organization, bringing together a large number of tourist spectators, therefore generating jobs and revenue for the hotel, leisure, entertainment, marketing and sporting industries. In 2009, the Malaysian sports industry contributed RM30.2 billion towards our Nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a figure representing just below 5% of the country’s

total GDP. The Ministry of Youth & Sports believes in the importance and potential of sports as an industry. Thus, we have embarked on a number of initiatives to turn Malaysia’s sports industry into a major contributor to our national income and by doing so, we hope to play our part in fulfilling the Economic Transformation Programme target of becoming a high-income nation by 2020.

The World Freestyle Football Championships is a key initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Youth and Sport to fuel interest and commercial investment into the Malaysian Sports Industry. It is a unique event. It is a world class event. It brings 
together people from all over the globe. And it is a new event being held for the very first 
time in our wonderful country. Overall it will draw the world’s attention to Malaysia as a country with great passion for freestyle football (and also sports in general) and it will allow the world to take notice of Malaysia as the ideal venue for world class sporting events, Malaysia. I look forward to great support from the country and the media, and I wish the organisers and participants the very best in making this event one to truly remember.

Majulah sukan untuk Negara and Thank You