Japan’s Eiichiro Matsuki received the Best Grassroots Leader award while Paro FC from Bhutan and ISF Football Programme were conferred the Best Grassroots Club and Best Grassroots Project accolades respectively.

Meanwhile, full-time teacher Chan Shuk Chi of Hong Kong, who is an AFC-KFA Pro-Diploma license coach and current Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) U12 Girls’ team head coach, was named the Youth Coach of the Year (Female) in the award ceremony.

The AFC Grassroots Charter is a development tool for Member Associations (MAs) to raise the quality of their grassroots programmes. It identifies 20 performance categories such as grassroots competitions, fairplay, partnerships and personal development.

This AFC grassroots endorsement programme is offered at three levels - bronze, silver and gold. At the entry level (bronze), the emphasis is on mass participation. The next level (silver) focuses on increased levels of quality, and at the highest level (gold), the endorsed members will set the benchmark for grassroots development.

Making history as the first Youth Coach of the Year (Male) was Abdulwahab Alharbi from Saudi Arabia, with the Youth Football League of Tajikistan winning the Youth League of the Year award and Chinese side, Shandong Luneng Taishan claiming the Youth Academy of the Year Award.

The Youth Coach of the Year (Female) will be announced during the AFC Women’s Conference in Kuala Lumpur on November 19, 2019.

The programme, led by FIFA, UEFA & AFC Fitness Instructor Magni Mohr, saw participants from 32 Member Associations attending the course which focused on topics on how to improve the fitness of footballers through training and nutrition.

With the ever-evolving fitness trend in football, the AFC Fitness Coaching Tutors Course was an opportunity for fitness coaching tutors and fitness coaches to listen from experts and learn from the latest research on football fitness while also exchanging ideas with peers.

12 Member Association representatives who were in attendance, deliberated on key issues of the AFC Coaching Convention and its implementation with the aim of increasing Member Associations (MAs) endorsements.

Coach Education influences all aspects of development and it impacts on the quality of the game. MA programmes provide an opportunity for tomorrow’s coaches to learn and to develop.

At the meeting, 23 new applications for the Convention were acknowledged, and the panel members were appointed to begin the evaluation process.

The experienced tactician, who was a prominent and regular contributor at the annual UEFA Elite Club Coaches’ Forum in recent years – was impressed from his first experience at Asia’s equivalent platform, commending the in-depth discussions and the opportunity in obtaining valuable insights on Asian football.

“The Asian Champions League is evaluated by each coach from the perspective of their respective countries and I have to say that it has been very interesting for me comparing with the experience in Europe,” said the former Liverpool manager, whose long list of accolades include clinching the UEFA Champions League winners medal with the Reds in 2005 as well as two Spanish La Liga titles with Valencia in 2002 and 2004.

Through the introduction of various initiatives for its 47 Member Associations, the growth of women’s football has witnessed impressive results. Since 2007, the participation of Member Associations in the qualifiers of the AFC U-16 and AFC U-19 Women’s Championships have increased by 70 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.