This year’s September 1 was a festive occasion not only for schoolchildren and university students, but also for Armenian soccer players, who from now on have an opportunity to get training at a modern soccer academy built with assistance from international soccer’s governing bodies.

The facility built in Yerevan’s northeastern Avan district is the largest in the South Caucasus and its goal is to promote the development of soccer in Armenia.

Attending the official opening of the Academy on Wednesday late afternoon were Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, UEFA President Michel Platini, Football Federation of Armenia (FFA) President Ruben Hayrapetyan and other senior officials.

As Hayrapetyan said in his remarks, the Academy has all conditions for training.

“This modern center was a dream for a long time, today it is a reality,” he said.

The groundbreaking for the academy took place in 2007 and it was attended by both the FIFA and UEFA presidents, as well as the FFA president. Now the facility has five soccer fields where about 1,000 can train in hopes of making squads of professional soccer clubs in Armenia.

The center also allows up to six teams to have assemblies there simultaneously. Representatives of other sports, such as swimmers, tennis or basketball players, also have an opportunity to use the facilities for training purposes. A hotel complex and a rehabilitation center have also been built for soccer players.

A total of $12 million had been spent on the construction project, two-thirds of the sum, or $7 million, had been provided by UEFA, $400,000 by FIFA and $4.1 million by FFA.

Armenia’s national and Under-21 soccer teams have already started trainings at the new technical center ahead of their upcoming Euro qualifiers. The national team plays on September 3 and 7 against the Republic of Ireland in Yerevan and Macedonia in Skopje, respectively. The U-21 team travels to Tbilisi to play Georgia on September 7.

“By coming here three years ago we made the last ‘pass’ and today we see the ‘goal’ scored. This isn’t a goal against the Irish team, but a goal for the development of Armenian soccer. I hope that this Academy will serve its purpose. The most important thing is that kids get great pleasure out of these training conditions,” said UEFA President Platini, thanking the leadership of Armenia and the Armenian Federation’s head for completing the project.

Armenian President Sargsyan, for his part, awarded Platini with an Order of Honor for his contribution to the development of soccer in Armenia.

Sargsyan said the Platini, a former France star player, was awarded for his “passing well to us”.

“I am confident that you will continue to pass well,” Sargsyan said.

The senior guests then took a tour around the Academy, inspecting its conditions and also watched the training of the first of Academy charges.

Hayrapetyan and Platini answered reporters’ questions at a press conference afterwards.

Platini stopped short of giving an assessment of the current state of Armenian soccer.

“I am no specialist for Armenia or other countries, my only role as the UEFA president is to show support for the national federations. Armenian soccer is not shown on TV in Europe, so I haven’t seen much of Armenian soccer,” said Platini, adding that he still watched the historical Turkey v Armenia game in Bursa last October and thought that “Armenia played well.”