Dubai: The Dubai Courts Department (DCD) has stepped in to provide family counselling and social guidance to footballers, through a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the UAE Football Association (UAEFA).

As per the MoU, DCD’s specialised counsellors will hold awareness sessions and campaigns for football players who are interested in getting guidance, counselling and further information on the importance of family matters.

On Wednesday, DCD’s Director General Taresh Al Mansouri and UAEFA President Marwan Bin Galita signed the MoU, enabling family counsellors to render services in the social and family domain and organise periodical lectures based on the players’ topical circumstances. The footballers will be provided moral support, through special workshops and lectures by family counsellors, rendered according to the footballers’ age and situations.

“Footballers’ supervisors will decide on the specific topics that DCD’s family counsellors will be lecturing and guiding on, based on the circumstances of the players. Our counsellors will be ready to hold private sessions for interested footballers and sit down with any interested player’s family or parents, to provide the required guidance and counselling on family issues ... everything will be coordinated with the clubs’ managements. We will also organise workshops on positive energy and motivation, aside from honouring and rewarding footballers who achieve excellent academic performances,” said Al Mansouri.

DCD and UAEFA signed the MoU to attain community awareness in the field of family and to strengthen the ties between community members in order to achieve the UAE’s vision of ‘Cohesive Family 2021’.