With the opening event at the Great Amphitheatre of the Department of Regional and Economic Development of the Agricultural University of Athens, located in Amfissa, the 1st Regional Development Football Conference "The future is played on our field" (23-25 February) began.
The Executive Director of the EPO, Iakovos Filippousis, the President of EPA Fokida, Fanis Angelou, members of the Board of Directors were present on the spot. of OPS Phocis, the Vice-Regional Governor of Phocis George Delimouzos, the Mayor of Delphi Panagiotis Tagalis, the technical director of the national teams Kostas Konstantinidis and the technical director of education of EPO, Kostas Tsanas.
Through a greeting, the President of the EPO, Panagiotis Baltakos underlined the value of such conferences, stressing: "It is the obligation of the EPO to deal with the development of football and amateur football. It is a key pillar for the football federation, just as our national teams are a key pillar, but to have good national teams we need to develop football and footballers properly from the grassroots. This conference is an innovation, a pioneer and I encourage others to follow it, take similar initiatives and hold similar conferences."

Executive Director of the EPO, Iakovos Filippousis stressed the value of development activities. We have responded to the invitation of the President of Fofiello, Mr. Vassiliou, who met with the President of Fofiello, Mr. Vassiliou's representative. Football is the top game in the world and it is about the joy of the sport. This is the joy we want to convey with the actions of the conference. Football is a joy for young and old and a means of promoting values such as fair play and values that combat racism and violence. Football is the little Giannakis who is here with us today. We try to highlight all this in such actions with the contribution of UEFA, which commends the holding of such conferences. The presence of academics at the conference obviously enhances its value, as we will be able to see other perspectives of football and I wish all the work a complete success."

The president of the Phocis EPA, Fanis Angelou, welcomed the guests at the opening of the conference: "This conference was born out of the need to develop football at the young ages i.e. the stem cell of amateur football. The effort to organise the conference started several months ago and was finally realised thanks to the synergies between all the institutions, namely the EPO, the EPA Fokida, the Municipality of Delphi and the region.

"On behalf of our National Teams, we welcome you to this conference which focuses on children and their connection with the game in general and with football in particular. The sport that can bring them joy, mental and physical health and contribute to their individual and social skills. In the National Teams, we give the development sections the same basis and importance, both in terms of organisation and staffing, as well as in terms of all kinds of support, so that talent is exploited to the greatest possible extent and promoted, in due course, to the higher levels."

The 1st speech of the conference belonged to the Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Regional and Economic Development Marina-Selini Katsaiti, who through a thorough and detailed analysis, focused and developed the social dimensions of football and the value of its regional development. The program of the first day of the conference was concluded with the speech of Dr. Panagiotis Panagiotopoulos, Dr. of Sports and Sustainable Development, who presented the economic and environmental indicators of sustainable development with a focus on the development of football.
At the end of the speeches, the Executive Director of the EPO, Iakovos Filippousis and the Technical Director of the National Teams, Kostas Konstantinidis, presented a National Team jersey to the young football fan Yannis Papastefanakis, who was present at the opening of the conference.

Source: https://www.epo.gr/News.aspx?a_id=53337&NewsType=21