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The latest AFC Elite Youth Special Online Session put a sharp focus on the best practices, challenges and how the AFC Elite Youth Scheme can be utilised as a blueprint to develop youth football in Asia.
A total of 146 participants from 41 Member Associations (MAs) joined the session to engage, interact and share youth development ideas among peers.
They also listened to engaging interviews with FIFA Head of ‘high performance programmes’ Ulff Schott and the AFC’s Deputy Technical Director and Head of Player Development Laszlo Szalai who shared detailed insights into FIFA and AFC youth programmes.
Schott shared his analysis of Asian youth football: “At the AFC you have a huge variety of MAs. There is willingness for long term approach but it is difficult to implement. Some also feel the need for short term success and not a long-term process.
“Use the system ecosystem analysis. Start collaborating and working on long term planning. Use the funding to set-up a project management to work on a long term project, to build an ecosystem.”
He further elaborated on the FIFA Talent Development Scheme, which targets to boost football’s global competitiveness and offer bespoke assistance to MAs to achieve their full potential.
Meanwhile Szalai gave his insights from an AFC perspective, sharing the importance of the AFC Elite Youth Scheme and how it provides MAs with a proper and detailed guide on how to design a youth programme.
He explained the importance of developing home grown players and how Asia must put a real emphasis of developing elite youth football by organising more competitions, upgrading facilities and producing better coaches.
The virtual session ended in an open forum with participants sharing their MA’s commitment to youth development, how the AFC and FIFA schemes can assist youth programmes, and the importance of working with former players to enhance elite youth football.
