Sports | Tuesday 26 May, 2015 3:32 pm |

With children’s health being at the heart of Danone’s mission of ‘bringing health through food to as many people as possible’, Danone Nutricia Early Life Nutrition Middle East is proud to announce that the UAE will be participating this year for the first time in the Danone Nations Cup. The Danone Nations Cup is the biggest football tournament for children between the ages of 10 to 12 in the world, truly focusing on promoting health and fair play amongst children in the U12 category.

This year marks the 15th year that Danone is continuing to hold the Danone Nations Cup, which is a true testament to its continued global success. Every year since 2000, around 2.5 million children take part in local, regional and then national Danone Nations Cup competitions, before the winners fly off to compete in the World Final. In each of the 32 participating countries, Danone’s subsidiaries organize their national tournaments in partnership with the local Sports federations and/or state education and sports ministries. Over 34,000 schools and 11,000 clubs from all around the world are involved.

This year, Danone Nutricia Early Nutrition Middle East truly felt passionate about bringing this amazing opportunity to children in the UAE so they reached out to local sports federations in the country. With the positive response from the Dubai Sports Council, Danone has been able to realize this ambition through their valued support as the key local partner in the region along with the valued sponsorship of Al Safi Danone, Evian, Professional Link, Emirates, Jus, Canadian Specialist Hospital and Dubai Sports.

Again this year, Zinedine Zidane will be the global ambassador of this international event. The local Ambassador for the UAE event will be Nasser Khamees Mubarak, the well-known UAE football player who plays on the UAE National Football Team and Al Wasl FC Club in Dubai. Khamees represented the UAE at the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy and also won six league titles with Al Wasl club, besides the president cup in 1986, FA Cup in 1992 and bronze medal of Asian champion’s league in Bahrain in 1993. We would like to also thank him for his support and believing in this great cause which we know will be an unforgettable experience for the children.

Over the next few days, qualifying UAE teams (girls and boys aged 10 to 12) will be playing in the semi-final and final qualifying tournaments in Al Wasl Club Dubai on May 29th & 30th to compete for the opportunity to represent the UAE in Morocco; the host country of the 2015 Danone Nations Cup Final. The tournament dates for the finals in Morocco will be October 22-26.

To shed some light, the history of this event began following the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. Danone decided to create a similar international football tournament in affiliation with FIFA, but for children. The idea was to encourage and inspire their love of the game by promoting the important values that sportsmanship teaches children, mainly focusing on fair play.

Fair play is instilled in children through understanding the rules of the game of football, and then demonstrating these rules by cooperating with their teammates. This encourages children to experience companionship, cooperation, and the importance of working towards a common goal as a group. The social aspect of the game is very important, as it instils leadership values in children and allows them to collaborate and respect one another.

The Danone Nations Cup is a great opportunity for Danone to put into action their commitment and to encourage children to adopt an active lifestyle while learning that playing the game is more important than just winning. This remarkable adventure will teach children valuable life lessons and encourage them to believe in their dreams.