Amman, September 19, 2016- HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, President of the Jordan Football Association and Chairman of the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), met today with Her Excellency Linda Cathrine Hofstad Helleland, the Norwegian Minister of Culture and Sport, during her visit to Jordan.

The discussions focused on the empowerment of women and the improvement of their social, economic and health status using sport as a catalyst, particularly the vital role of Jordan’s hosting of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in stimulating positive change both in the kingdom and the region.

Prince Ali thanked HE Minister Helleland, the government of Norway and the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) for their generous support for social development projects in Northern Jordan, implemented by AFDP and a number of other NGOs, and for its continuous cooperation with the Ministry of Education as well as the Jordan Football Association (JFA).

Under this collaboration, the ‘Norway Football Fields’ program has built and renovated 8 artificial football pitches in the Northern region where the majority of Syrian refugees in Jordan reside. Beneficiaries of the program to date include boy and girl schools and sports centers in Al Azraq, Mafraq, Ramtha, Irbid and Zarqa, in addition to a girls-only pitch inside the world’s second largest refugee camp, Al Zaatari. The program has also hosted a number of coaching seminars for Jordanian and Syrian men and women and has received visits from Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende and the German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Mueller. The project enjoys the direct supervision of Mr. Per Ravn Omdal, Project Manager of the ‘Norway Football Fields’ and Honorary President of the Football Association of Norway.

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