We firmly believe through adversity comes strength: UAEFA vice president Al Junaibi

UAE - Abdulla Naser Al Junaibi, the vice president of the UAE Football Association and chairman of the UAE Pro League said that through adversity comes strength and added that the UAE and the global football world will see this as an opportunity to grow and develop.

The UAEFA and the Pro League hosted a webinar titled 'Covid-19 and football, how to shape a new future,' in partnership with the International Sports Convention (ISC), on Wednesday.

The webinar saw a number of panelists from the footballing world share their experiences and ideas with Fifa president Gianni Infantino and AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, as well as UAEFA president Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, sharing their thoughts.

Some of the panelists who took part in the webinar were Jose Ramon Capdevila, managing director Player Lens, Chris Fortuin, lecturer at University of Johannesburg and FIFPro South Africa Division, Michel Sablon, technical director of the UAEFA, Marco Amezcua, senior legal counsel at Fifa, Andrew Mercer, acting legal director at the AFC, Philipp Reschke, head of legal and fan support Eintracht Frankfurt, Peer Niclas Naubert, Head of Global Marketing, Digital & Communications at Bundesliga and Waleed Al Hosani, CEO of the UAE Pro League.

Some of the topics that the panelists spoke on were players' recruitment and development post Covid-19, the legal challenges faced by the football industry after the pandemic, commercial opportunities, grassroots football and securing the future of football.

The webinar was hosted by Nigel Fletcher, CEO of ISC.

"The webinar provided all of the global football community a valuable insight into how the industry has managed this unprecedented situation, and how we will come out stronger as a unified football business," said Al Junaibi.

"As part of building a stronger future for UAE football, we seek to embrace the global football community, exchanging experience and ideas, and supporting growth opportunities. We look forward to working with as many of you as possible in the future and are committed to providing a further platform for the greater benefit of world football," he added.

"In my role as the chairman of the UAE Pro League, we have faced many new challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic and are very aware that our member clubs will need to realign to the new circumstances that they now encounter.

"There are many positives to take from this experience and I'm sure that all football entities, not just the clubs of the UAE Pro League, will see this as an opportunity to grow and develop as individual businesses. As well as collectively, we share a lot of optimism shown by the guest panelists and firmly believe that through adversity comes strength. We look forward to a brighter football future," Al Junabi said.