Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: Coaching education in Asia continued to gain momentum as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Coach Education Panel concluded its third meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday since its formation just over a year ago.
AFC General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John welcomed members and reinforced the pivotal role of coach education in the continent to ensure the success of Asian teams on the world’s biggest stages, as envisaged in the AFC’s Vision and Mission.
The panel – which was formed to establish a comprehensive coaching education strategy for the continent – set the context by examining the AFC Coach Education Pathway aimed at creating a systematic development of coaches and trainers at all levels in Asia.
Members also emphasised the need to implement the new AFC Coaching Convention, which was one of the main topics of discussion during the recently concluded AFC Coaching Coaches Seminar 2016 in Kuala Lumpur.
In essence, the Convention will serve as a valuable tool in the education of the continent’s technicians by establishing the rules and guidelines for the education of Asia’s future coaches. In the longer-term, the Convention will also facilitate a more seamless movement of coaches throughout the continent.
AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh said: “The priority in the future will be to ensure that the education of coaches is enhanced across the continent by creating a collective set of principles that all Member Associations (MA) will implement.
“We will work closely with our MAs and their coach education tutors/directors to enhance the level of coach education in order to implement this new Convention”
Another key area of discussion during the meeting was the prescribed tasks, processes and desired outcomes required to build core coaching competencies, with the aim of implementing these guidelines in the future.
Among some of the competencies discussed include analysing professional matches, coaching professional games, training professional players/teams, teaching professional level football, teams and players as well as assessing professionals.
Andy Roxburgh added: “Coaches today wear many hats – from technician, manager and leader. The road to coaching success starts with building core competencies and continues through lifelong education.
“The methodologies, principles and structures we discussed and aligned here today present a great starting point for our aim to improve the standards and quality of coaching in Asia.”