The 1st Regional Conference on Developmental Football "the future is played on our own field" was held at the Agricultural University of Athens in Amfissa.

From Friday, February 23 until Sunday, February 25 2024, the 1st Regional Conference on Developmental Football “the future is played on our own field”, took place at the Agricultural University of Athens in Amfissa. The launching event of the Conference was held at the Large Amphitheater of the Department of Regional and Economic Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, headquartered in Amfissa Campus.

The Head of the Department of Regional and Economic Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, Ms. Marina-Selini Katsaiti, Associate Professor, in her inaugural address, has highlighted the importance of sports and in particular that of football in mental and physical health of people, as well as in the beneficial effects, as expressed by the participants in a team sport like football. The creation of healthy social models that work, based on team spirit, fair competition and the competition in the favourable sense of the word, benefit young people from developing social skills, necessary for the evolution of society with a collective consciousness.

Throughout the speech of Dr. Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos, engaged in Sports and Sustainable Development, economic and environmental indicators of sustainable development have been presented, focusing on the development of football. It has been established that, sports in general contributes positively to the efforts made towards sustainable development at a ratio of 12,5% by indicators, in addition to accomplishing the eight (8) out of the seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations until 2030.

During the Conference, official guests by the Federation, Academics, inasmuch Scientific Partners of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), have marked through their speeches, the significant and key issues that concern children, parents and teachers respectively, for example, mental health, cases of bullying and childhood obesity.

Specifically, Mr. Iakovos Filippousis, Executive Secretary of the Hellenic Football Federation, the President of Phocis Football Clubs Association (F.C.A.), Mr. Theofanis Aggelou, Members of the Board of Directors of Phocis F.C.A, the Deputy Regional Governor of Focis, Mr. George Delmouzos, the Mayor of Delphi, Mr. Panagiotis Tagalis, the Technical Director of Greece National Teams, Mr. Kostas Konstantinidis and the Technical Education Director of the Hellenic Football Federation, Mr. Kostas Tsanas, have attended the 1st Regional Conference on Developmental Football “the future is played on our own field”. The Faculty Staff of the Agricultural University of Athens, namely, Ms. Aggeliki Menegaki, Ms. Sophie Mavrikou, Mr. Dimitrios Tsiotas and Mr. Panagiotis Mitropoulos have also represented the Institution