AFC - Iranian legend Mehdi Mahdavikia and Chinese ace Bai Lili are proud and honoured to be appointed as AFC Grassroots Ambassadors to help the continent and specifically MAs develop their grassroots game.

Both top footballers were officially appointed by the AFC as Ambassadors during the opening ceremony of the AFC Grassroots Workshop on Wednesday that commemorated the AFC Grassroots Day, which fell on 15 May.

The 34-year-old Bai Lili (pictured, right) is a recent ‘A’ Licence holder, a Chinese Football Association grassroots instructor and also works in grassroots in Shanghai where she was also a professional player between 1995 and 2006.

The lanky lady was also a national player from 1999 to 2006 having represented China in the 2001 Women’s Asian Cup, 2004 Olympic Asian qualifying and 2006 Women’s Asian Cup where China emerged as the champions for the eighth time.

“I consider this chance to be AFC Grassroots Ambassador a great honour for me and my MA,” Lili told The-AFC.com. “It is a great responsibility and mission to help in the continental and MAs’ grassroots causes.

“This opportunity to contribute is not only in words but also in action, to actually do something to develop the game at the grassroots level. I started footballing when I was nine years old, so I have first-hand experience of being a grassroots player and now I’m a grassroots coach, a combination I will be banking on to promote the grassroots game across the continent.

“Grassroots is important not only as a base for great footballing for a nation but it is also an important and perfect developmental aspect to incorporate into boys’ and girls’ overall growth where they will learn the values of teamwork, leadership and social skills. I’m really happy to play a part in this”

Mahdavikia (pictured, centre) was captain of Iran’s most successful club Persepolis from which he retired only last week and is now helping prepare the national team for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in August in the UAE in his transition to the coaching world.

The 1997 Young Asian Footballer of the Year and 2003 Asian Footballer of the Year also has wide European experience having plied his trade for German outfits VfL Bochum, Hambuger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Mahdivikia said: “I would like to thank the AFC for the trust given me to make contributions to Asian football at the grassroots level in conjunction with the AFC Grassroots Year 2013 and AFC Grassroots Day which falls on 15 May.

“I still remember how I started football when I was nine years old and since then, I had been playing at different levels of football right up to the senior national team where I was also skipper.

“I hope I would be able to assist the continent and also MAs in their grassroots efforts and I’m sure my experience in Europe and the Iranian clubs and national team would come in handy.”