OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2012. Visa, as a FIFA official sponsor, has developed and launched in Azerbaijan a new educational video game, Economic Football. Economic Football is a part of Visa’s global initiative to increase financial literacy among the young and the general population, reported the press-centre of CBA.  

This dynamic and exciting game introduces financial literacy and teaches responsible and conscious budgeting and explains why taxes need to be paid and how to do this correctly. The project is being implemented in partnership with the Central Bank and the Tax Ministry of Azerbaijan.

Economic Football combines the world’s most popular sport, football, with Visa’s high-end technologies in the sphere of financial literacy. The game makes it possible to determine a player’s knowledge level in the sphere of money management as they move forward to score a goal. Players answer questions, choosing the correct response from several options and can compete with any global football teams on the virtual FIFA World Championship field. Thanks to Visa’s partnership with FIFA, this game has gained popularity around the world in just a few years and been rolled out in more than 30 countries, including neighboring Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

“At Visa we are convinced that a financially literate society is the foundation for a country’s stable social and economic development. As a leader in the non-cash payment industry, Visa has been developing financial literacy programs around the world for more than 10 years to help people improve their skills and knowledge so they can better manage their finances and thereby increase their standard of living,” said Jean-Marc Tonti, general manager for Visa, CIS & SEE. “Azerbaijan is one of Visa’s key markets in the CIS and we would like to express our enormous gratitude to our partners, Azerbaijan’s Central Bank and the Tax Ministry, with whose support we today have the honor of presenting Visa’s first financial education project in the country – EconomicFootball.”

“Financial literacy among public at large is one of the top priorities of the Strategic Plan of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. We are investing substantial financial and intellectual resources into different project activities to increase awareness about complex financial products, assist elderly and people without economic education with planning of their finances, teach schoolchildren and students the fundamentals of banking and finance as well as cooperate with mass media to train them to disseminate economic and financial news accurately and professionally. This project with VISA is an indispensable part of such broader program, and we definitely hope that Azerbaijani schoolchildren and students, both boys and girls, as well as adults will find it exciting and educating.” – said Natavan Mammadova, Deputy Director, Center for Research and Development Central Bank of Azerbaijan.

One of the objectives of the Ministry of Taxes is to raise tax awareness among the population through the usage of information technologies. The goal of the Financial Football Project realized jointly with the VISA is to introduce financial knowledge, including the knowledge of taxes to the population, particularly the youth through the game.

Elchin Mammadov, Head of Taxpayers’ Service Department of the Ministry of Taxes said that the Ministry of Taxes had published a number of textbooks on teaching of taxes for pupils and students, organized over 50 methodic departments to teach taxes in secondary schools, and the Azerbaijan State Economic University launched Tax and Taxation Department. We hold a “Taxes in the eyes of kids” drawing contest and competitions on tax knowledge in secondary schools and higher educational institutions every year.” “I believe that the Financial Football will take a rightful place among the events of the type, provoke interest among the youth and help boost tax culture among them,“- highlighted Elchin Mammadov.

Economic Football features three difficulty levels – geared to teens, high school students and adults. Questions and topics include budgeting, taxation and the wise use of credit and other bank services. The game also offers an option for self-tuition. Having studied 4 educational modules, players can learn the basics of saving and budgeting, why they need to pay taxes, what it means to be a creditworthy borrower and how to choose a payment card. Each module contains tests and exercises to check players’ knowledge. Economic Football is available in Azerbaijan on DVDs. Soon it will be launched in Azerbaijani and Russian language versions online.