DILI, 26 february 2022 (TATOLI) – The current president of Timor-Leste’s Football Federation, and the current Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Social Communication (MAPCOMS), Francisco Martins da Costa Pereira Jerónimo, was officially re-elected as the new president of Timor-Leste’s Football Federation (FFTL) for the period of the next four-year (2022-2024).
Jerónimo was officially re-elected as the new president of FFTL, with 11 votes out of 21 at the 7th National Congress of FFTL held at the Novo Turismo hotel, in Dili, today.
At the same place, Aleixo da Silva Gama, Colonel – Falur Rate Laek was re-elected as the Vice-President of FFTL for the next four-year period.
In his victory speech after re-electing as the new president of FFTL, Jerónimo pledged to bring football closer to the communities in the municipalities and the administrative posts across the country, including RAEOA.
“My team and I will plan to hold Youth Football Tournaments at the municipal level. It is one of our permanent programs for the next four-year period,” Jerónimo made the comments at the 7th National Congress of FFTL, held at Novo Turismo hotel, in Dili, today.
He planned to strengthen a conditioning program for Youth Football Athletes at the municipal level, particularly to train the children aged 8 and 11 to improve their football skills at an early age.
“We also plan to improve the decision-making skills and knowledge levels of Timor-Leste’s football referees according to the laws of the game. So that they can be chosen to be the referees not only at the national, but also at regional, and international level,” Jerónimo stressed.
He said during his next four-year term, FFTL would recruit more referees: “We will facilitate them with appropriate training, which will enable them to be the referees at the regional and international football matches.”
“We will establish more football leagues in the country. As we know, we already have football league first and second division based in the capital Dili. This year, we will have another division, called the third division to be established in the municipalities,” he emphasized.
Jeronimo also promised to bring Women’s Football closer to the communities in the municipalities: “We will give the opportunity to our young girls in the municipalities to involve and develop their football skills.”
“In addition, we will move the FFTL League competition for youth in the municipalities. We will no longer have the FFTL league in Dili. It’s important to have more football competitions in the municipalities to engage more young people in football,” he added.
Jeronimo said his team would commit to developing an international standard football pitch to host regional matches, such as AFC Asian Cup, AFF U-23 Cup, SEA Games, and others in Timor-Leste.
“FFTL would keep working closely with the Government of Timor-Leste to better develop Timor-Leste’s football in the four coming years,” he said.
Three candidates competed for the new leader of FFTL at the 7th National Congress of FFTL, including Francisco Martins da Costa Pereira Jerónimo, Francisco Kalbuadi Lay, and Nilton Gusmão.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
