Urs Zanitti

Urs Zanitti, Chief Executive Officer, Asian Football Development Project.After working for 15 years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with placements in Africa, Central America and Geneva and the Finance Delegation of the Swiss Parliament, Urs spend 10 years with FIFA Development. Since leaving the organisation, Urs has also been the Strategic Advisor to the AFC GS and President on matters relating to the Asian Champions League, Women's Football, the KICK OFF programme and CSR in conjunction with his rol e as CEO of AFDP. With his extensive and combined development and football background, Urs is acknowledged as a world leader in football development.

Under his leadership, NBA China and the Chinese Ministry of Education established a groundbreaking partnership that aims to further youth development through basketball in elementary, middle and high schools across China. Since October 2014, NBA China and the Ministry of Education have jointly launched a series of initiatives including the Jr. NBA High School League in Beijing, the development of NBA style basketball curriculum that aims to provide enhanced basketball training to at least three million students, basketball exchange programs and a RMB 10 million (US $1.6 million) pledge in a joint effort to build and refurbish public basketball courts across China.