Courtesy: The AFC.com

AFC acquires top instructors' services

Monday, 14 February 2011

Kuala Lumpur: AFC Deputy General Secretary Hasan Al Sabah has said that AFC has acquired the services of the world’s top instructors to educate and train referees and referee instructors

Speaking while launching the AFC Elite Futsal Referee Instructors’ Course here on Monday, Al Sabah, who is also AFC Education Director, said:

“The future is Asia and we believe that we can succeed. An example of this is the success of China in the Olympics. The spirit of Asia’s success in the Olympics should be carried on.

“AFC is serious about developing futsal. Courses have been organised for coaches and referees as well. Presently coaching is advanced and the refereeing fraternity is also gearing towards excellence.

“AFC has acquired the services of top instructors in the world to educate and train the referees and referee instructors. Education is continuous and there is no close or stop to it,” he said.

The course is one of the courses organised for Asian football crème de le crème during the second instalment of the continent’s largest sports educational fair, the AFC Elite Education Seminar 2011, held from February 9 to 23, 2011, here in Malaysia’s capital.

The three-day course’s trainers are FIFA Instructors Yasuhori Matsuzaki (Japan) and Pedro Galan Nieto (Spain) as well as Guest Instructor from UEFA Ivan Novak (Croatia). Ten participants are attending the course.

Meanwhile, AFC Referees Director Yoshimi Ogawa says futsal is becoming very popular in Asia and though there are not as many competitions, futsal is still important.

He said: “In this respect, education, training and preparation of referees for the tournaments are very important. It is very important to keep up with changes and to always update our knowledge of the laws of the game.

“Instructors have a very important duty to train and prepare the referees for the tournaments. The instructors also have to conduct educational programmes and identify referees with potential.”

Back at AFC House, another programme, the AFC New Elite Referee Assessors’ Course, also kicked off on Monday.

Trainers from the AFC Referees Department put the 13 participants, a majority of them former elite referees, through the paces.

The participants were selected on the basis of good performances in the FIFA Futuro III course and their potential to improve further.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Futsal refs course starts Feb 17

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Kuala Lumpur: The AFC Elite Futsal Referees’ Course will commence here on Thursday (February 17, 2011) which will be attended by 25 participants including a guest participant from UEFA who is joining the course under the AFC-UEFA Referee Exchange Programme.

The course trainers will be FIFA Instructors Yasuhiro Matsuzaki (Japan) and Pedro Galan Nieto (Spain) as well as guest instructor from Croatia Ivan Novak, who is also joining the programme under the AFC-UEFA programme.

The three-day course is one of the programmes under the second part of the AFC Elite Education Seminar 2011 which is held annually by AFC for Asia’s top football proponents.

The participants in the course are from Australia, Bahrain, China, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkmenistan and Austria.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Futsal ref instructors see golden opportunities

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Kuala Lumpur: AFC Elite Futsal Referee Instructors Saminathen Marimuthu and Adrian Tamplin feel that FIFA and national futsal referees need to grab any opportunities that come their way to join the AFC Elite Panel by becoming an elite futsal referee.

They have told the-afc.com that while futsal opportunities are not as many yet as that for football, referees should keep an eye out for any chances because futsal has a lot of room for development in the continent.

The Malaysian Marimuthu and Australian Tamplin were two of the participants of the AFC Elite Futsal Referees Instructors’ Course held as part of the programme of the AFC Elite Education Seminar 2011 held here annually by AFC for Asia’s top football proponents.

Marimuthu said: “We need to help more FIFA and national referees in futsal achieve the AFC elite status because this is one of the things that will help develop futsal in the continent, especially in member associations which have not gained much exposure to the game.

“These referees should grab the any chances, especially in national matches, to achieve this. Exposure is very important so that their respective member associations can recommend them to the AFC’s elite panel,” he said.

Tamplin shares his Malaysian colleague’s feeling: “Some countries, for example India, need opportunities to start futsal. It would be great to see our friends from India develop their futsal refereeing skills now.

“For other countries, such as my home country Australia, we need more domestic games at the national level to promote the game and develop refereeing. This will bring more benefits to the game as a whole, not just the referees.

“When this happens, opportunities will be abound for futsal referees to develop themselves.”




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Become FIFA, AFC Instructors: Ogawa

Thursday, 17 February 2011

Kuala Lumpur: AFC Referees Director Yoshimi Ogawa has urged the participants of the AFC Elite Futsal Referee Instructors’ Course which closed here Wednesday to take on bigger roles in the future by becoming FIFA and AFC Futsal Referee Instructors.

Ogawa has said that the pool of futsal referee instructors who can work both for AFC and FIFA is small and therefore an opportunity lies here for the 10 participants to make more contributions to the game.

“I expect you someday to take over the jobs of your instructors in this course you just finished today. You have been learning from these instructors who are among the best in FIFA and AFC, and there are not many of them around.

“AFC needs to build its pool of instructors and the only people who can take up this challenge of filling the voids are you. So, I would like to urge you to work hard to improve yourself again and again.

"Once you have qualified to teach at both AFC and FIFA levels, your contribution to both organisations will be immense, not to mention the benefits you bring to your member associations,” encouraged Ogawa.

Ogawa was speaking while closing the three-day course held as part of the AFC Elite Education Seminar 2011’s programme.

Also present during the closing ceremony were AFC Futsal Director Ali Targholizade and the course trainers, FIFA and AFC Futsal Referee Instructors Yasuhiro Matsuzaki (Japan) and Pedro Galan Nieto (Spain) as well as guest instructor from UEFA Ivan Novak (Croatia).

Meanwhile, Targholizade is convinced that refereeing is one of the most important elements of the game that needs developing.

He said to the participants: “We have been since recently putting elements, for example, the coaching train-the-trainers courses, to develop futsal.

“This course you just finished is one of the elements needed for futsal refereeing. This game has great potential for going far in this continent and you are part of the elements to make Asia the giant in futsal,” said the Iranian Targholizadeh.

The course participants were Alexander Tamplin (Australia), Li Zhizhong (China), Andy Wong (Hong Kong), Seyed Mousavi (Iran), Abdolkarim Sistaninejad (Iran), Shinichi Hirano (Japan), Kazuya Isokawa (Japan), Adel Al Shatti (Kuwait), Badrul Hisham Kalam (Malaysia) and Saminathen Marimuthu (Malaysia).


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