As a former personal trainer, Prince Daniel has always had a keen interest in sport and fitness, and he visited the Swedish Football Association in Solna Wednesday to learn more about their activities as well as football sports in Sweden. The association, founded in 1904, is the governing and head body of football in the country and is Sweden’s largest specialist sport association.
The association is responsible for organising men’s and women’s football leagues as well as the respective national teams. “Football associations have a total of about one million members, and together these account for one-third of the total Swedish sports movement’s activities,” according to the palace.
Prince Daniel was welcomed to the office with a presentation of the Swedish Football Association’s activities by its chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson and Secretary General Håkan Sjöström.
The Swedish women’s national team leader Peter Gerhardsson and the men’s national team captain Janne Andersson also participated in the meeting with the Prince.
Prince Daniel learned more about the report “So the Football Returns,” which researchers carried out on behalf of UEFA. The report showed information on how football contributes to strengthening public health.
They also discussed “All are Different – Different are Good,” an inclusivity project “which aims to ensure that everyone, regardless of nationality, ethnic origin, age, gender, functional variation or sexual orientation, can be part of Swedish football.”
Following his meetings, Prince Daniel toured the association’s offices and met with employees.
Getting Swedes involved in sport is a particular passion for the Prince, who focuses on health and fitness in many of his charitable endeavours. His support of events such as Prince Daniel’s Race and Sports Day helps to encourage young people to get more active and to become involved in sporting pursuits.
He served as patron of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 football tournament, along with the Make A Healthy Heart Your Goal campaign, which was a collaboration between the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Swedish Football Association, UEFA and the World Heart Federation.
