AKIPRESS.COM - Tajikistan' s Football Federation (TFF) won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Recognition Award for Grassroots Football at the AFC annual awards ceremony that was held Sunday in Manila (the Philippines), the TFF press service said Monday.

The AFC President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa handed over the award to Hurshed Mirzoev, FFT first vice-president.

The nomination on AFC President Recognition Award for Grassroots Football was measured on the basis of points system such as the structure, management and philosophy of the country's grassroot program.

Tajikistan' s Football Federation received the AFC award for the first time. TFF has never been nominated before for AFC annual awards.

For this year, the TFF had done a great job in youth and grassroots football. It conducted three republican football championships among youth in three age categories, the prize competitions "Leather Ball", as well as more than 20 different tournaments were held by TFF among children.

Launched on March 26, 2014 Tajikistan' s Grassroots Year came to an end on Nov. 20 with more than 15,000 children having taken part in 25 festivals across the nation.

The football festivals, held this year, were attended by the Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, FIFA president Joseph Blatter, as well as the legendary former footballers of football clubs Pamir - Dushanbe and Spartak - Moscow, including Alexei Cherednik, Hakim Fuzaylov, Andrey Manannikov, Oleg Romantcev, Georgiy Yartsev, Vagiz Hidiyatullin and others.