Participants during the event.
Bucharest: Aspire Academy’s “Aspire in the World Fellows” Workshop Tour has successfully wrapped up its European edition in Bucharest, Romania, completing the third stop of a growing global series that previously visited La Plata, Argentina in 2024 and Singapore in 2025.
Hosted at the iconic National Arena Stadium from April 20–22, the three-day event brought together more than 1,000 participants, including coaches, football experts, club representatives, and federation officials from across the global football ecosystem. The tour operates under Aspire Academy’s flagship community programme, which unites more than 50 world-leading clubs, local leagues, and national federations in a shared commitment to advancing youth football development and improving sporting performance worldwide.
The event was organised in close collaboration with the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), with the participation of UEFA and the European Union, including the Delegation of the European Union to the State of Qatar, which partnered in the third-day social responsibility programme.
The opening day’s standout moment came with a Star Chat featuring Romanian football icon Gheorghe Hagi, delivered just minutes before he was officially unveiled as the new head coach of the Romanian national team, replacing compatriot Mircea Lucescu. The 61-year-old, who represented Steaua Bucharest, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Galatasaray during a glittering career, called on Romania to mirror Qatar’s investment in football infrastructure and coaching development.
“We have to put in a lot of money and a lot of time to develop good coaches and invest in infrastructure, as you have done in Qatar, you have done it very well,” Hagi said.
Day two’s Star Chat featured another Romanian great, Ilie Dumitrescu, who described the event as transformative for football in his country. “It’s fantastic for everyone involved in football in Romania to be connected with Aspire Academy,” he said, encouraging coaches to access the Fellows programme’s online platform for analyses and resources.
Beyond the Star Chats, theoretical sessions were delivered by experts from Aspire Academy, Inter Milan, Arsenal, the Italian Football Federation, and technology firm Fitogether, among others. Hands-on coaching workshops were led by practitioners from AFC Ajax, Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, and the FRF.
The final day moved to the FRF’s National Football Centre in Buftea, where more than 100 children aged 10–14 from local academies took part in a Corporate Social Responsibility programme centred on environmental sustainability. Delivered in partnership with UEFA, the session encouraged young participants to adopt responsible habits, from proper waste disposal to supporting recycling initiatives at stadiums and training grounds.
UEFA’s Executive Director for Social and Environmental Sustainability, Michele Uva, praised Aspire Academy for bringing such a platform to Europe, emphasising the importance of combining football’s joy with respect, for the environment, teammates, opponents, and the game itself.
FRF President Răzvan Burleanu welcomed the partnership, noting it delivers world-class coaching expertise to Romanian youth football, while Qatar’s Ambassador to Romania, H.E. Dr Rashid bin Abdullah Al-Kubaisi, highlighted the event’s role in advancing sports diplomacy between the two nations.
Aspire Academy’s knowledge-sharing mission continues later this year, with the Fellows community set to gather for its 12th annual Global Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
