As beneficiaries of the AFC Solidarity Fund, Tyson Scott (AUS), Rishab Kapur (IND), Han Bits-yi (KOR), Mahmoud Qaraqra (PLE) and Michael Kevin Goco (PHI), who were all endorsed by their respective Member Associations, will spend the next three months at De Montfort University in Leicester, England, for the Humanities of Sport module at the university’s renowned International Centre for Sports History and Culture.

In January, the class will then move to Italy to study Sports Management at Milan’s SDA Bocconi School of Management. Following the completion of this module, the class will finally transfer to Switzerland where they will be taught Sports Law at the University of Neuchâtel for the final module of the year.

The scholarships are part of the AFC’s commitment to enhance the capability of staff from the AFC’s Member Associations and were announced by the AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa at the 28th AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur last October.

Chaired by Salem Said Salem Al Wahaibi, the Committee heard of AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa’s President’s Development Initiative, the President’s Infrastructure Initiative as well as the Technical Staff Initiative and Football Administration Certificate (FAC).

The Committee learnt that 15 Member Associations (MAs) had benefited from the Development Initiative, 23 Mini Pitches were delivered to eight MAs in 2018 while FAC Editions Four and Five saw 42 graduates from 19 MAs and Editions Six and Seven 47 participants from 23 MAs – with Turkmenistan and Syria represented for the first time.

A total of 12 infrastructure projects were approved in 2018 and a further 24 this year under the President’s Infrastructure Initiative while 30 MAs applied for funding under the President’s Technical Staff Initiative of which 22 have been accepted so far.

The AFC Financial Assistance Programme (AFAP) has risen to USD500,000 in 2019 – an increase of 100% from 2018 – and will be distributed in two instalments to eligible MAs, who can then utilise these funds to achieve their goals and objectives.

A minimum of 10% from the AFAP must be distributed to drive Women’s Football/Women’s Futsal, Coach Education and Youth and Grassroots programmes, which further underlines the AFC’s Vision and Mission of promoting the sport at all levels.

Beginning 2020, all eligible MAs must employ full-time specialists in key areas such as Coach Education, Elite Youth Programmes, Women’s Football, Grassroots, Marketing, Refereeing, Legal Affairs, Media and Communications, Finance, International Relations, and Club Licensing in order to access their annual AFAP.

Recognising the need to build more football infrastructure, the highly-acclaimed Mini-Pitch scheme under the AFC President’s Infrastructure Initiative has been discontinued and MAs can now utilise the increase in contribution of USD 800,000 over the period of 2019-2020 for any infrastructure investment including mini-pitches.

The workshop, under the AFC Mentorship Programme, was held for the first time in the Central Zone and received overwhelming support by the media in IR Iran.

FFIRI President and AFC Vice President Mehdi Taj, who opened the workshop, said: “The AFC and FFIRI are delighted to engage with the media in this workshop. This is a good opportunity for the media to understand the rules and regulations in domestic and international competitions.

“Journalists, whether in the digital or traditional outlets, play a significant role in promoting football to a wider audience. And this workshop is beneficial to ensure the success of all our competitions.”

The two-day training was conducted by experienced producer and television commentator Dez Corkhill under the AFC’s Communications Mentorship Programme, which was launched earlier this year.

From the training, BFF received valuable knowledge on how to generate engaging and entertaining content to be uploaded on video streaming platform MyCujoo.

It was identified during the training that the key area of focus was to find for a commentator and a television presenter which will enhance their video content significantly.

As part of the AFC’s commitment to help its MAs, this new initiative was launched as a platform for MAs to further improve their governance and management in football.

The introduction of the Advance 11 is aimed at helping the MAs measure and benchmark their capabilities against a set of guidelines incorporating 11 key functions which covers legal and governance, finance and risk, administration, logistic and IT, human resource, facilities management and maintenance.

The guidelines also focus on marketing and branding, commercial and business development, stakeholder relations, leadership and management of national teams and competitions and club management.

The system and methodology of the Advance 11 are designed to improve the MAs objectives and efficiencies while ultimately helping MAs to self-evaluate and identify areas which require attention and focus.

Held in early April, the workshop was conducted in conjunction with the inauguration of the CFA Club Licensing Administration IT System, with representatives from the AFC, FIFA and all clubs from professional leagues under the CFA.

CFA Vice President Li Yuyi, who gave the opening mobilisation speech, outlined the five goals to be achieved through the implementation of club licensing regulation.

“(1) Chinese Super League should strive to become leading leagues in Asia;
(2) Endeavour to strengthen club development to make all leagues more professional, to promote the performance of the national team;
(3) Establish development structures of youth players with clear progressive pathways by local and international way as well as school involvement.
(4) Solidify and improve collective consultation mechanism in football area to promote transparency and integrity of all clubs; and
(5) To have well-educated, qualified and skilled club officials to run the club operations.”

The workshop also covered important topics such as development plans of clubs until 2021, club licensing processes, criteria requirements and important deadlines for the 2019 club licensing cycle. By the 2020 club licensing cycle, all clubs which compete in super league should have a women’s football team.

The CFA Club Licensing Manager, Qiao Daihu, then stressed on the finer details of the financial requirements and compliance to the CFA Financial Control Regulation which was introduced in December 2018.