Courtesy: The AFC.com


Curtains down on FIFA/AFC Conference

Sunday, 28 November 2010

Kuala Lumpur: The groundbreaking FIFA/AFC World Cup Conference 2010 held from 25 to 27 November 2010 here in Malaysia’s capital was officially closed on Saturday by AFC Deputy General Secretary Hasan Al Sabah.

Closing the conference on behalf of AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, Al Sabah said the World Cup Conference along with a number of inaugural instructors’ courses were the legacy of the Asian Coaches Year 2010.

“From this legacy, you have exchanged experiences, learned from the best, developed communication with others and many more. What’s important now is that you deliver all these to the people back in your countries,” said Al Sabah.

The conference’s purpose was to analyse the performances of the Asian teams in the World Cup South Africa 2010, featuring a diverse panel of speakers ranging from National Coaches and Technical Study Group (TSG) experts to youth development specialists and coaches from World Cup 2010 winners Spain.

Al Sabah called on all the participants to always give and teach others if they want to grow and to consistently have their confederation in mind even if they are working at the member association’s or club’s level.

“I would like you to have an open mind that you also work for your regional confederation. When you work, remember that you are also responsible for your country and regional confederation,” he said.

Al Sabah cited Japan as a good example, who, he said had invited other member associations to their conferences.

“So, please work for all Asia,” he said.

The Bahraini is convinced that futsal and the grassroots are the base for better Asian football and wants emphasis to be given to these areas.

“Put in your mind that futsal and the grassroots are the base of football. If you look at Brazil, 80 percent of their players come from futsal background. These players can perform well because they are used to the compact pressure environment,” he said.

Al Sabah is concerned that repeated mistakes in the acquisition of foreign players will have a negative repercussion on Asian clubs.

He said: “Don’t repeat the mistake where most clubs buy strikers, if not, your national team will be without a good striker.”

Al Sabah thanked FIFA and all Asian football associations involved in the conference and congratulated the Royal Spain Football Federation for their success in the 2010 World Cup.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com