It has now been over 150 years since that day in 1863 when the first official organization focused on the development of a beautiful game that rapidly gained the affection of people on all continents was established in England, the homeland of football, and to this day its audience has only been increasing and expanding, embracing new countries. Nowadays, hardly anyone will take the liberty to explain the origins of football popularity, its quintessence. The game is so popular that it doesn't require any explanations of its successful development, nobody needs them anyway.
In any country of the world - in the courtyards, playgrounds, both big and small - one can see people of all ages selflessly playing football. Countless are the people united by this small alert object called a ball, every move of which is closely watched by the army of fans around the globe ready to do it non-stop. Football, putting it in the medical language, is a kind disease, which in fact does not require search of treatment and positive emotions extend the life of a patient.
How many interesting and memorable events are historically connected with football, not to mention the World Championships held every 4 years that draw billions of spectators to their televisions. The game has been globalized, its popularization has reached universal scale. Every day, the media widens and increases the worldwide coverage of people going crazy because of the emotions and feelings and unable to imagine their life without this overwhelming and fascinating spectacle titled its Majesty FOOTBALL.
Several generations associate this game with different events connected to everything that surrounds the game. Legendary players, records, achievements went down in history and tournaments, sometimes tragedies, are associated with the game. From one generation to the next, passed are the eyewitnesses’ stories that become surrounded with different rumors about the mysterious events related to individual matches and tournaments, fatal blows, injuries and so on.
Today its safe to say and argue that the rich history of football has in many ways defined the development of individual countries and even continents which have been the epicenter of football contests for a long time. At the level of both national teams and clubs there are heroes among the players and coaches who made it into history due to their high achievements and records that will remain forever not only in football memory but also in the history of the countries they represented. As long as you wish, you can list their names and the names of the clubs, but the important thing is that they have become part of the world history.
In this regard, it is extremely important not to lose the continuity of generations and keep specific exciting moments and events in the memory of our descendants without which it is impossible to understand the scale acquired by football - namely, why it has become a classic game that washes off all possible boundaries and conventions.
The globalization of this game requires some thinking and concepts of how football has developed in one country or another, what kind of events have played a key role without which it is sometimes impossible to understand the country and its people, its influence on the development of the world civilization. In this connection, we have proposed to establish a global project under the auspices of FIFA called FOOTBALL - AS THE LINK OF TIMES - FOR PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP, which will be all about holding events and tournaments around the world devoted to the most exciting and memorable events that have defined both the game development in individual countries and the relationship between different countries and even continents. It is essential that these activities become a bridge linking the past and present, pointing the way to the future, further uniting people of various interests, beliefs and cultures across the planet. The world is one, and the link and continuity between generations can also occur indirectly through football - a uniting factor in the form of events and tournaments in honor of memorable dates and events associated with the game.
S. Ioannesyan - Economics and Foreign Affairs Specialist, Ph.D, in Economics, the initiator of the international project "Football - as the link of times - for peace and friendship".
N. Patarkalischvili — initiator of the international project "Football — as the link of times — for peace and friendship" and initiator of the first project in GEORGIA as a start.
On 1st photo: S.Ioannesyan and H.E. Hassan Al Tawadi Secretary General Qatar 2022
On 2nd photo: S.Ioannesyan and Ricardo Trade Special Advisor of President FIFA (2012-2018)