President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a meeting with the head of the Spanish football club “Atletico” Madrid, Enrique Cerezo Torres, at which plans to open an academy of this famous club in Kazakhstan were discussed.

According to the press service of the Kazakh leader, Cerezo Torres presented Tokayev with details of a project aimed at developing football in Kazakhstan through the creation of the “Atletico” Academy on the basis of the Akbulak Olympic Center in Talgar, Almaty region.

“The President of Kazakhstan highly appreciated the initiative and assured that the state would provide full support to this project aimed at developing football in the country”, - the statement said.

Tokayev emphasized that football is a priority for Kazakhstan, where about 40 000 children are already involved in this sport in schools and sections with active modernization of the sports infrastructure.

According to Cerezo Torres, “Atletico” academies operate successfully in many countries around the world, paying special attention to training coaches and introducing advanced techniques to unlock the potential of young talents.

At the end of the meeting, the head of “Atletico” presented Tokayev with a T-shirt with the autographs of the players of the Madrid club.