Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 2 / Trend /
AccessBank together with the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) have installed a mobile football pitch in the regional cities of Gandja, Mingachevir and Imishly, the bank said on Wednesday.
In addition to installing the mobile pitches, AccessBank, together with the Head Office of Youth and Sport of Gandja organized a football tournament for teenage girls - the first time such a tournament has been held in Ganja. The two-day tournament was sponsored by AccessBank's Corporate Social Responsibility program. After Gandja's successful tournament, the mobile pitch was installed also in Mingachevir and Imishly.
Elkhan Mammadov, AFFA General Secretary commented, "AFFA first launched this project of installation of mobile football grounds for the benefit of our Azerbaijani community. Any time children of any age may play football free of charge on the grounds installed in Baku as well as other cities, towns and regions of our republic, it is a positive thing for our youth. In other words, installation of mobile football grounds have a great significance in our "Let‟s protect our health playing football" Project. We are glad that AccessBank, one of the AFFA partners, pays special attention to the social side of the project. Installing mobile football grounds in Gandja, Mingachevir and Imishly, as well as holding tournaments among girls in Gandja by AccessBank, is a worthy and positive cause. We should continue to encourage and support these activities in Azerbaijan. We can help children become more active as they play football and more generally engage in sports."
Dr. Andrew Pospielovsky, General Manager of AccessBank, said of the project, "AccessBank tries to make a positive contribution not only to the economic development of Azerbaijan, but also to the healthy development of communities. We are proud of cooperating with AFFA in the development of football participation in Azerbaijan, especially among children and girls. We believe that football participation is positive not only for better health, but also for development of self-confidence and team spirit among youth."
Since 2010, AccessBank has been the official sponsor of AFFA and the national football teams of Azerbaijan, including the women‟s and mini-football teams, and the beach and youth teams of Azerbaijan.
AccessBank‟s mission is to provide access to financial services for Azerbaijan‟s micro and small businesses and low- and middle-income households. AccessBank is recognized by Fitch Ratings as the most reliable bank in Azerbaijan among private banks (BB+) and by both Global Finance Magazine (2011) and Euromoney Publications (2010 and 2011) as the "Best Bank in Azerbaijan‟ in their annual awards.. AccessBank is 100% foreign owned by six shareholders, consisting of: the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank - the Development Bank of the German Government (20% each), Access Microfinance Holding (16.5%), and LFS Financial Systems GmbH - a German consulting company (3.5%).