FA president interview: Peter Gilliéron (Switzerland)

In an interview with UEFA.com, Swiss Football Association (SFV-ASF) president Peter Gilliéron explains how the help of the HatTrick programme and the continuing input of the country's clubs have kept football moving forward in Switzerland.

UEFA.com: What is your association doing to fight racism and intolerance?

Peter Gilliéron: We are continuously fighting – not against something, but for something. We are fighting for fair play, tolerance, mutual understanding and above all for the Respect which UEFA asks for. And I can say very proudly that for us, racism is not a concern. Intolerance you can find everywhere in society, and we are trying to make tolerance a subject of major importance in football: not just a word, but a way of acting.

UEFA.com: Tell us about the activities promoting the game in your association.

Gilliéron: The most important thing – and it's something I'm proud of – is that we have around 250,000 males and females who actively play football. A small quantity are professionals, about 500 to 1,000, and the rest are amateur and youth players: 130,000 are youth players and 22,000 are women.

Besides the usual championships at each level, we regularly conduct youth festivals as well. These are special competitions for children which we organise with the clubs. With the help of sponsors, we also conduct a school championship through the whole of Switzerland, with more than 150,000 participants, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath that we have a lot more activities. We mainly count on our clubs – we have 1,450 – and every day they do something for the sport.

UEFA.com: How has your association benefited from UEFA's HatTrick programme?

Gilliéron: It has helped us in different sectors, the most important of which are the education centres we have set up in different parts of Switzerland. I'm particularly proud of creating one of these centres for young girls. They are designed so that during the week the girls go to school, play football and train, and at the weekends come home. Our women's football has made a lot of progress thanks to this. We also have mini-pitches, which are very popular in Switzerland. It is working well and we'll be happy to continue these activities. The HatTrick programme is very good for football and I'm very grateful to UEFA for supporting it.

UEFA.com: How do you handle the idea of Respect in football?

Gilliéron: As I've said, we are fighting every day for fair play, tolerance and friendship. We have a 'fair play' competition in the top leagues and an annual one for the fairest club at all levels, introducing Respect to all. We also conduct 'be tolerant' games, where players officiate matches, so that mutual respect between players and referees can be fostered. These are a few of our activities, all of which are displayed in detail at football.ch.

UEFA.com: What are the plans and targets for the next few months and years?

Gilliéron: We have a lot of targets. The most important ones are doing as well as possible at the World Cup and continuing the success in our youth sector, especially with our female teams. The second aim will be difficult. The men's Under-17s became world champions last year and to improve on this will be hard. But it's important to continue with the work, and to at least maintain the standard of our grassroots programme or even improve it.

I would also like to see us produce more players and importantly, have enough pitches for them with sufficient groundsmen to look after them. We need coaches, officials and people who do things for the game off the pitch, in order to educate footballers correctly. That is an important target and if we progress in that department, then we have done a lot. In this matter the association can't progress without the help of the clubs and regional associations, and I'm happy for this. If we achieve those targets, then we will have progressed a lot over the next few months and years.