UEFA Grassroots Day 2010, all you need to know

The UEFA Champions League final is always a special occasion in the football calendar but the build-up to this season's showpiece match in Madrid promises to be even more memorable as Wednesday 19 May denotes the inaugural UEFA Grassroots Day.

Approved by UEFA's Executive Committee, the event will be a celebration of grassroots football across Europe, and, in the week of the most high-profile club fixture of the year, will emphasise UEFA's stance that elite football cannot flourish without healthy grassroots. Therefore one of the day's key objectives will be to transmit the all-important message that football is open to everyone.

Conceived of as an annual undertaking, UEFA Grassroots Day will be multi-faceted, involving all 53 of the European governing body's member national associations. Grassroots work at domestic level is crucial to overall success, and on 19 May each FA will get the opportunity to promote its programme with a series of activities. The German Football Association (DFB), for example, is organising a community outreach day, whereby youngsters throughout the country will get to use as many as 800 mini-pitches. Germany has more than 1,000 mini-pitches, facilities helped with €3.7m of UEFA funding.

The DFB's Grassroots Day slogan will be: Strong Kids, True Champions. Social skills will also be promoted, with an emphasis on the prevention of violence. Like its fellow FAs, the DFB will also attempt to create and renew interest and enthusiasm in football among boys and girls, as well as to generate new members for club teams.

A highlight of Grassroots Day will be the presentation of three UEFA Grassroots Awards for outstanding achievement. The best grassroots leader award will be given to an individual who has excelled in this area. The prize for best grassroots project will recognise a scheme run by an association, region or agency, while the best grassroots club award will complete the honours list. All FAs were asked to nominate worthy candidates, with the winners being decided by UEFA's Executive Committee.

The awards ceremony is one of a number of UEFA activities to be staged in Madrid on 19 May. UEFA president Michel Platini will hand over a new mini-pitch to the Spanish city; an adidas-backed grassroots demonstration will take place as part of the Young Champions programme; and famous faces will be on hand to act as UEFA grassroots ambassadors.

In addition, a UEFA Grassroots Day website is up and running to provide educational material to help youngsters' development before, during and after 19 May. Teachers, coaches and parents can access online lessons based on football-related topics such as winning and losing or teamwork, which can be used in classrooms, at clubs or at home to stimulate discussions and address values of sporting, educational and social significance.

The lessons are designed as two 45-minute periods, just like a football match. Their flexible format will give educators additional time to discuss important points, as the lessons also contain: an introduction to the topic (the warm-up); a first-half summary and introduction to the second half; a summary of the lesson at the end of the 90 minutes (full-time team talk); and potential extra time to be employed for assigning individual follow-up work.

One such lesson is dedicated to the subject of winning and losing. It begins with a session on what makes a good supporter, with goals scored as students list the necessary qualities, identify the actions of bad supporters, and find creative ways of dealing with hooliganism. Similarly, the subject of teamwork is covered by a lesson on what makes a great team. Pupils score in this 90 minutes by pinpointing strong teams outside the sporting world, by naming successful sports teams and their best qualities, and by listing the chief features of any successful team.