Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The recently appointed Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Technical Committee for the term 2015-2019 had its first meeting in Kuala Lumpur, home of the AFC headquarters, on Thursday.
The Committee Chairman, Mr Kohzo Tashima (Japan), welcomed Deputy Chairman Mr Obaid Mubarak Obaid Al Shamsi (United Arab Emirates) and Members Mr Eric Abrams (Australia), Ms Fan Yunjie (China PR), Mr Kwok Ka Ming (Hong Kong), Mr Morteza Mohases (IR Iran), Mr Young Soo Lee (Korea Republic), Dato’ Mohd Junid Bin Mohd Noor (Malaysia), Mr Jose Ariston P. Caslib (Philippines), Mr Fahad Thani Al Zarra (Qatar), Mr Omar Abdullah Bakashwain (Saudi Arabia), and Mr Shovkat G. Imamov (Uzbekistan).
In his welcome address the Chairman underlined the importance of the role of the committee in steering football development in Asia. He noted that speeding up development work was crucial in order to catch up with the world’s top football countries.
AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh led the discussion on the proposal to introduce an AFC Coaching Convention. This was a matter which was also discussed by the AFC Executive Committee at its last meeting in Bahrain. The long-term aim of the convention is to raise the standard and the status of Asian coaches, with Member Associations becoming more independent in the delivery of coaching programmes.
The Committee also looked at the definition of grassroots football and the idea of defining and implementing an AFC Grassroots Charter. The Committee defined grassroots football as ‘all football which is non-professional and non-elite’. It was agreed that investing in grassroots football will increase participation and interest in the sport. A by-product of developing grassroots will be the opportunity to indentify more talent.
The Committee approved the creation of an AFC Grassroots Panel and the staging of an AFC Grassroots Conference. The conference will be used to encourage the MAs to increase their commitment to the grassroots game and to explain the latest developments in this field.
The Members had a discussion about the future of the AFC’s under-14 regional football festivals but agreed that the status quo would be maintained for 2016.
The AFC Technical Programme for 2016, including introducing some new AFC seminars and conferences, was approved by the Committee. One of these events is a women’s football conference and a key person in preparing this will be AFC’s new Head of Women’s Football Development Lili Bai from China.
The Committee also approved the programme for AFC MA Coaching Courses for 2016.