Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: AFC General Secretary Dato’ Alex Soosay has urged Asia’s top coaching instructors to help produce a new generation of coaches who will take Asian football to the higher level.
AFC Coaching Instructors and MAs’ Coach Education Directors completed their five-day Coach Educators’ Workshop in the Malaysian capital on Monday, held as one of the activities under the ongoing AFC Technical Education Seminar 2014.
Dato’ Alex believes the significance of the continent’s coach empowerment mission could not be stated more in light of Asia’s achievements after all these years that will highlighted during the celebration of its 60th anniversary this year.
“I’d like to welcome you to the year 2014 after witnessing a remarkable 2013 full of passion, drama and excitement,” said Dato’ Alex while closing the workshop. “As you can recall, we had two outstanding legs between FC Seoul and Guangzhou Evergrande in the ACL final. We have four teams, Korea Republic, Japan, Australia and Iran qualifying for the FIFA World Cup this year. It was also unfortunate that Jordan lost in the World Cup qualifying playoff but they lost fighting strongly.
“We have almost all slots in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 filled with one slot to be fulfilled by the champions in the upcoming AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives which is a tournament for emerging nations. We successfully held the AFC U-19 and U-16 Women’s Championship last year in China. We also saw some of the greatest actions during the AFC Futsal Club Championship in Japan.
“All these achievements would not have been possible had it not been for your contribution. You have laid a great tradition and I believe you have all achieved your and our objectives.
“I hope you have mastered all the methodologies taught during the course and bring them back and harness new talent in your MAs. You need to build a new generation of coaches whom we will rely on to realise Asia’s potential. You are helping us to identify and build a bigger and stronger base of coaches and players and therefore build a strong foundation for the national teams.
“I’d also like to convey the message of the AFC President who has coach education as his concern. He has urged all of you to empower the future’s great coaches for our vast continent as we celebrate the AFC’s 60th anniversary in Manila, the Philippines, the founding place of the AFC. I hope you’ll keep up the good work you’re doing to help Asia achieve its glory.”