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The Football Administration Certificate (FAC) programme continues to nurture future leaders of tomorrow with 58 more students joining the nine-month cutting-edge course in the sixth and seventh editions.
Since its inauguration three years ago, more than 100 aspiring leaders from the AFC Member Associations (MAs) have graduated from the course, and the number is set to rise when the next batch of students from 23 MAs commence their journey in the next editions which begin on Wednesday at the AFC House.
The highly-acclaimed programme, which was designed in collaboration with academic partner, World Academy of Sport (WAoS), focuses on seven key modules which cater for future senior management leaders.
“It has been a long journey, but it feels great and we embrace the valuable information and lessons. The FAC is a good programme that covers all aspects of football administration. It is designed for future leaders and once you’ve gone through this, it is important that you give back to your Member Association and Asian football,” said Mikhail Kristopher Torre, the Philippine Football Federation Competitions Manager, who graduated from the fourth edition earlier this year.
With more than 280 hours of study comprising distance-learning and three quarterly face-to-face sessions, participants also gained the opportunity to network and exchange ideas with peers from different MAs.
Samuel Bensley, the Grassroots Football Manager for The Hong Kong Football Association and fourth edition graduate, added: “The biggest takeaway from this course is the importance of developing a strategic direction which is supported by the aims and objectives. It helps you get a bit of context and it helps us learn more on how to structure football better.”
Some of the key modules of the programme include financial management in football, organisation of world football, strategic management, revenue generation, media and communications and events and operations management.
“It required a lot of commitment and hard work. At the end of the day, I come to think of what’s next. There are a lot to take away with what’s been happening in the last nine months but most importantly, is how we put it all together to make your MA better,” said fifth edition graduate Rahaf Sameer Owais, the Marketing & Communications Manager for the Jordan Football Association.
Steve Griffiths, Senior Visiting Fellow at WAoS, was pleased to see how the graduates have developed and improved since undergoing the programme.
“Many of them have already started to implement some of the learning back in the workplace and this is what it’s about. Some of them have also shown more confidence to contribute to their MA. They understand the whole framework of football administration. In specific areas they will have action plans that they can implement and make their MA more robust.”
