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Health Authority-Abu Dhabi and UAEFA sign deal

The UAE FA has signed a five-year partnership with the Health Authority - Abu Dhabi, the organising body of the health care sector in Abu Dhabi.

The agreement was signed on Sunday September 5, 2010 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi in the presence of top officials of the Authority and FA.

Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi, president of the UAEFA, signed on behalf of the association and engineer Zaid Al Siksek, director general of the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, signed on behalf of the government body.

Al Rumaithi hailed the great success of the authority in recent years and the big jump in health care saying that the authority is highly ranked in the Middle East region and the world at large thanks to the strong support of the Government of Abu Dhabi.

He said: “We are proud of its performance and international reputation.”

Speaking about the agreement, Al Rumaithi said it’s a special five-year partnership under which the authority would be the sole sponsor of the UAE national teams’ players.

“The health of our players comes first and for this reason we are working hard to maintain their safety and provide all necessary health and medical services. We are confident that the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi has variety of educational and cultural health programmes and we would be of great help for the authority while executing its campaign considering the strong influence of our coaches and players in the society.

Zaid Al Siksek, director general of the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi, hailed the partnership saying that the authority is working continuously to increase the awareness of the health life styles and practices and sports activities are essential part of the same.

“The Authority is trying through this partnership to reach wide slices of the people and particularly the youth in order to encourage them to behalf healthily,” he said.

“We are confident that such partnership represents a promising opportunity to communicate with a wider spectrum of the public at the football venues,” he added.

“We are proud to be strategic partners for the UAEFA and to be the health sponsors of our national teams. We will educate our trainers and players healthily and this would positive reflect on the society,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Al Rumaithi reiterated that the national teams are right on course and have made exciting achievements in the last two years. The youth national team claimed the AFC U-19 Cup in 2008 and advanced to quarters at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt. The U-17 national team qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2009 in Nigeria, the juniors’ national team landed the Gulf Championship, the youth and juniors have qualified for the 2010 AFC U-19 and U-17 finals in China and Uzbekistan, the senior national team qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Doha and recently the Olympic national team won the U-23 Gulf Cup in Doha.

Finally, Al Rumaithi said the agreement enhances the position of the FA and thanked Zaid Al Siksekfor his quick response. He also thanked all officials of the authority hoping that the sponsorship would positively reflect on the health of the national teams.