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.

The three-day conference, with the theme ‘Making a Difference’, focussed on various insightful topics aimed at developing future coaches in the sport.

Chinese Football Association (CFA) Coach Instructor Lars-Sven Isecke was a key speaker in the conference where he shared his experience on the evolving football trends in China PR as well as the importance of understanding the culture of football of each Member Association.

The three-day conference welcomed representatives from 45 Member Associations and key speakers who will join discussions and talks which focus on topics aimed at developing future coaches.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John raised the curtain at the conference and shared the AFC’s aspirations in his opening address.

The Panel led by AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh welcomed the members who are all specialists in the training of coaches.

15 Member Association representatives who were in attendance, deliberated on key issues of the AFC Coaching Convention ahead of the 3rd AFC Coach Education Conference.

The AFC Coaching Convention serves as a valuable tool in the education of the Continent’s technicians by establishing rules and guidelines for the education of Asia’s future coaches. It also serves as a vital link to club licensing and minimum qualifications for national teams.

At the meeting, six MAs were endorsed for inclusion into AFC’s Coaching Convention and this adds to the two previously accepted MAs - Japan (Pro) and the Philippines (A).

25 new applications for the Convention were also received, and the panel members were appointed to begin the evaluation process.

Support for the MAs, in their efforts to further develop their coach education programmes, was discussed in detail, and a number of strategic actions were agreed.

The 3rd AFC Coach Education Conference will take place on April 16-18, 2019.

Participants from AFC’s Member Associations including AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 winning coach Félix Sánchez of Qatar and runner-up Hajime Moriyasu of Japan attended the major event.

The conference focused on a range of topics from media management, to the player’s viewpoint as well as FIFA’s perspective, with Branimir Ujević, FIFA Head of Coaching & Player Development, sharing his insights on the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.

The three-day conference started with Shaikh Salman alongside Asia’s national team coaches and technical directors paying tribute to Qatar for their impressive victory at the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 in February.

Shaikh Salman said: “I can understand what kind of burden the head coaches and technical directors carry on their shoulders. They have a big responsibility and it is a vast area, so it is important that we learn from the AFC Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup.

“We saw a record number of Asian teams in a FIFA World Cup Finals and in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, there was an increase from 16 to 24 teams and I believe everyone here can agree that it was a good thing. We watched many different teams do well, especially Qatar.

The panel continued their discussion on the AFC Coaching Convention - which serves as a valuable tool in the education of the Continent’s technicians by establishing rules and guidelines for the education of Asia’s future coaches - and explored on ways to further streamline the application process before panel member Michel Sablon of Singapore shared the findings of his assessment visit to Japan.

Ten new applications for the Convention were also received, and the panel members were appointed to begin their evaluation.

AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh, who led the panel meeting, said: “The Convention will set higher minimum standards, where new guidelines would be put in place. It will also become an opportunity for MAs to be accountable for developing their own coaches.”

Special programmes for the education of women coaches were also touched upon before examining the requirements and key qualities of future tutors and coach educators.

The minimum coaching requirements for AFC Competitions were also among the topics discussed.