Friday 12 April 2019, 11:07

Bolivian sports laboratory benefits from FIFA Forward funding

  • The Bolivian Football Federation has invested in a new laboratory

  • The facility will focus on sports medicine, nutrition and psychology

  • FIFA Forward has assisted with a contribution of USD 160,000

With the help of FIFA Forward funds, the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) has equipped its laboratory in Cochabamba with the latest technologies required to monitor the performance and health of its footballers.

The high-performance facility aims to improve the performance of professional players, with a particular focus on those who play for the senior and youth national teams. Within the laboratory, all players will have access to the latest technologies in terms of medical facilities and will benefit from the results of the investigations carried out.

Based in Cochabamba, the fourth-largest city in Bolivia, the laboratory has three functional areas: sports medicine, nutrition and psychology. Players from the local federations and clubs will also benefit from the facility, as the equipment purchased for the laboratory includes mobile units that can be moved to the training fields and perform on-site evaluations.

Divided into three main phases, the project included the renovation of its facilities, the purchase of equipment for a brand new laboratory and the recruitment of experienced personnel for the evaluation and medical assessment of players. FIFA Forward contributed a total of USD 160,000.

The state-of-the-art facility was inaugurated last week in the presence of high-level representatives from the Bolivian Football Federation and the FIFA Forward regional office in Paraguay.

Cesar Salinas, the President of the FBF, who has been involved in this project since its inception, said: “This laboratory represents an extremely important step forward for the FBF, as it gives us access to state-of-the-art equipment will allow us to perform a punctual evaluation of each player's physical condition. In addition, the FIFA Forward programme has given us the opportunity to execute other development projects, specifically infrastructure and training courses, which will contribute to the development of our youth competitions for men and women."

For Dr Dalton Salinas, who heads up the laboratory, the access to the latest medical technologies that this facility provides is crucial. He said: "The current trend is more to prevent than to cure, and we will perform anthropometric, effort, cardio respiratory and nutritional tests to prevent any problems developing within the bodies of our athletes. These evaluations will be fundamental for our diagnosis, but they will also play a vital role in improving the sports performance of our players.”