12 Jan 2020
Doha, 12 January 2020. On Sunday morning, Aspire Academy had the privilege to welcome a high-ranking delegation from Bulgaria led by the Minister of Education and Science, Mr Krasimir Georgiev Valchev at their premises and Aspire Academy’s management used this opportunity to discuss potential future collaborations.
The guests from Southeast Europe were welcomed by Aspire Academy’s Deputy Director General Al Salem Afifa, who gave them a brief overview about the philosophy and the achievements of Qatar’s national sports academy. These talks were intensified in a short meeting that also included further members of the Academy’s management team such as Mr Badr Al-Hay, Director of Education and Student Affairs and Mr Markus Egger, Director of Sport and Strategy. In order to get deeper into the topic of balancing education and sports training, the discussion was also joined by Aspire’s School Principal Jassem Al-Jaber.
During the meeting, aspects about different approaches to support the development of talented young athletes were exchanged between the participants and Mr Nikolay Kirilov Izov, President of the National Sports Academy in Bulgaria, gave an interesting insight into the pathway for developing athletes in Bulgaria.
“It’s always very interesting for us to welcome these kinds of delegations, because the exchange of knowledge and getting to know different approaches in the area of education, sports development and sport science is very important in order to stay up to date,” Mr Ali Salem Afifa commented on the discussion that was followed by a tour through the facilities including the Football Performance Center.
“The process the Aspire Academy has established to select potential athletes out of a very small talent pool and to develop them to reach the peak of their potential is truly impressive. This is something that we could also apply in our country,” said Bulgaria’s Minister of Education and Science, Mr Krasimir Georgiev Valchev afterwards and stressed that a potential collaboration in the fields of teaching and research could be a beneficial future initiative for both parties.
Besides Minister Valchey and National Sports Academy President Izov, the Bulgarian delegation included Mrs Veselina Dimitrova Ganeva, Director of the International Cooperation Directorate in the Ministry of Education and Science; Mr Victor Borissov Zlatkov, President of the Sofia Medical University; Mr Anastas Georgiev Gerdjikov, President, of the Sofia State University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; Mr Ivan Mladenov Kralov, President of the Sofia Technical University and Mr Stoyan Gueorgiev Dentchev, Chairman of the General Assembly of the University on Librarian Studies and Information Technologies and Director of the Institute on Information and Security.