In his brief address, President Begić thanked for today’s visit to Ambassador Nelson and emphasized that this Federation has, from 1992 to the present, gone through numerous trials and difficulties, from organisational, financial to the suspension of the Federation that followed in 2011.

Subsequently, thanks to the Normalisation Committee, the FF BH, with the support of UEFA and FIFA, made visible progress in its work and continuously developed in all segments of its activities.

President Begić especially emphasized that great progress has been made in this period, starting with the qualification of the “A national team for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, the construction of the Training Centre in Zenica, the new administrative headquarters of the FF BH, until the introduction of projects where it was currently active. This progress would not have been possible without the unity that prevailed among the members of the Executive Board, as well as the FF BH Administration, whose reform has created realistic preconditions for better quality work.

The FF BH has grown into a successful and financially stable sports organisation that has not sought the assistance of the state on projects in the past work. The Executive Board, however, would not be able to embark on a project to build a national stadium. Nevertheless, the leadership of the Federation hoped that those who would come after them would continue to work on the development and promotion of football in our country.

Ambassador Nelson was particularly impressed by the video presentation highlighting the Federation’s key values, vision and mission in the coming period. As Ambassador Nelson noted, there are many reasons why the success of FF BH was of interest to him personally. First of all, unity was what underlies the success of this Federation, and the teams that won were always the ones who were united.

“The task that you all work diligently on with your players is especially important for the future, because it gives hope to young people who, as I hear it, want to go abroad. This country can succeed, because much can be achieved in the coming period through joint efforts”, Nelson said. He expressed hope that the USA Embassy and the FF BH would cooperate in the coming period, i.e. be partners in the fight against corruption, stressing that he was proud of the partnership that has long been realized by USAID and the FF BH in various fields of activity.

At the end of his visit, the Ambassador said that he had learned a new word, “nogomet”.