UEFA donates €200,000 to help damaged Croatian football infrastructure

At the request of the Croatian Football Federation, European football’s governing body UEFA has donated 200,000 euros to help clubs and football organisations in the area of Zagreb and Zagreb County.

In the weeks following the devastating earthquake that hit the Zagreb area on March 22, the Croatian Football Federation began collecting data on the damage to football infrastructure caused by the quake. 

A dozen clubs and football organisations reported damage to their facilities, and based on their reports, the Croatian Football Federation submitted a request to UEFA for financial assistance to these clubs and organisations.

After considering the request, the UEFA Commission for Fair Play and Social Responsibility decided that the Croatian Football Federation will be allocated 200,000 euros to cover part of the costs of rebuilding the football infrastructure damaged during the earthquake in Zagreb. 

The Croatian Football Federation will forward the donated funds to football clubs and county football associations that reported damage to their facilities and whose facilities have not been repaired by the City of Zagreb.

These funds are donated from UEFA’s disaster fund which helps clubs and organisations in recovering from natural disasters every year.

The donated funds will be allocated in proportion to the estimated amount of reported damage, and the beneficiaries will be GNK Dinamo, Zagreb Football Association, NK Sesvete, NK Rudeš and NK Jarun, whose facilities have not yet been repaired by the City of Zagreb. 

(Photo: HNS)

UEFA’s donation will cover half of the total cost of repairs and before receiving the funds, the clubs will undertake to use the donation exclusively for the purpose of repairing the reported damage.

A small part of the donation (less than 1%) will be used for the rehabilitation of the Croatian Football Federation Information and Multimedia Centre, which is located in Petrinjska Street and was also damaged during the earthquake.

The Croatian Football Federation has also sent a request for help to clubs and football organisations whose grounds and offices were damaged during the earthquake in Zagreb to FIFA, which grants such donations through the FIFA Recovery Fund. The Croatian Football Federation is still awaiting a decision.

(Photo: HNS)

The Croatian Football Federation submitted these requests to UEFA and FIFA during the summer and autumn of 2020, and that the UEFA donation and a possible FIFA donation were therefore intended for clubs and football organisations whose facilities were destroyed during the March 2020 earthquake.

In order to provide the same type of assistance to clubs in the area of Petrinja and nearby cities and counties, the Croatian Football Federation is currently in the process of collecting information on the damage to the football infrastructure caused by the earthquake in December 2020. 

Following the completion of data collection and the implementation of official damage assessments, the Croatian Football Federation will use the same procedure to request financial assistance from FIFA and UEFA for clubs and football organisations whose facilities were damaged during the earthquake in Petrinja.

UEFA will help the areas affected by the devastating earthquake in December last year through a dedicated donation to the Croatian Red Cross, while the Croatian Football Federation will donate funds to the Sisak-Moslavina County Football Association to renovate the local football infrastructure. 

On that occasion, a humanitarian match between football legends of Croatia and Slovenia will be played in Petrinja, and the National Team of Slovenia will also join this action with a donation.