“I would like to thank the UFF, the President and General Secretary, as well as all the staff who helped us in organising this Festival of Football in Tashkent,” said Whittle in his closing speech.

“For the third consecutive year, the Festival of Football was held at such a high level. We are very happy with it.

“In addition, I would also like to thank the AFC Instructors, Rustam Akramov and Ali Al Traifi for their contribution to the courses. They were doing their best in trying to upgrade the level of the participants.”

UFF Director of the National Teams Department Alisher Nikimbaev expressed his appreciation for the opportunity given by the AFC.

“On behalf of UFF, I would like to thank AFC for the hosting right. I also hope the players do their country proud in the AFC and FIFA competitions in the future.”

The Festival in Central Asia was held from March 13 to 26 in the Uzbekistan captial with the participation of players and officials from host Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The West Asia’s Festival was held from February 21 to March 6 in Doha, Qatar. After Tashkent, the Festival moves to East Asia from April 14-27 in Beijing, China. South Asia will celebrate their Festival from May 10-23 in Hamedan City, Iran while the ASEAN event is scheduled for May 24 to June 6 in Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian province of Sabah.

The Festivals are less about competition and more about providing an arena for talented juniors from their respective regions to play against each other and forge bonds of friendship.