FIFA President Gianni Infantino met with his Latvian Football Federation (LFF) counterpart Vadims Ļašenko at the FIFA office in Paris, France, on Wednesday, to discuss the significant progress of the game in the Baltic state with the help of FIFA Forward funding. "It was great to have another meeting with Vadims Ļašenko, the President of the Latvian Football Federation, here at the FIFA office in Paris," said Mr Infantino. "We talked about the importance of investments in football infrastructure, and I was pleased to learn that the Latvian Football Federation has recently been granted land for the potential construction of a new stadium. We also discussed the Football for Schools programme which was launched in Latvia last year and the importance of football in education."

Last year, forty-five physical education teachers from across the country were trained as coach-educators in the Football for Schools programme.

The LFF is aiming to boost its country’s footballing development through its commitment to making football the most popular sport in Latvia for women, and making the game part of the curriculum for physical education classes in schools.

"The LFF is doing a great job, as I saw for myself during my visit to Latvia in 2021, and we looked at the best ways of leveraging the FIFA Forward programme to continue that great work," said Mr Infantino.

"I also congratulated President Ļašenko on his re-election earlier this year and told him that we would continue working to grow our game in his beautiful country."