Dubai: FC Barcelona's youth teams' coordinator and the one responsible for fuelling Spain's World Cup winning squad last year will be joined by some of the top footballing minds from Europe and the Gulf at the 1st Dubai International Football Academies Forum to be held at the Dusit Thani Hotel on Saturday and Sunday.
Benaiges, who has accepted an offer from Al Wasl Club, Dubai, to be in charge of its youth development programme for the next five years, is the one responsible for contributing a bulk of the squad in Spain's World Cup winning campaign in South Africa last year.
But after nearly two decades of working as technical director with one of Europe's most successful clubs, Benaiges accepted the offer from the Dubai outfit to oversee the structure of coaching at Al Wasl Club starting this July.
The other top footballing minds who have been involved in the promotion of the beautiful game at the grass-roots level at various clubs and academies have confirmed their participation at the two-day event that is being held under the auspices of Dubai Sports Council.
"It was always a slur against us that we were not doing enough for grass-roots development of football. With this forum and the subsequent implementation of strategies laid down, we will be in a better position to address this issue," Dr Ahmad Sa'ad Al Sharif, Secretary General, DSC, told Gulf News.
The panel of discussions and deliberations will be led by Fifa consultant Belhassan Malouche and AFC Grassroots and Youth Development Officer Dr Annathurai Ranganathan and they will be joined by officials from the German Football Association, French Football Association, Spanish Football Association, Italian Football Association, England Football Association along with coaches from top European clubs and regional giants like Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli Club.
Agenda: Attracting youngsters
This week's forum is meant to be part of the Dubai Sports Council's "Week of Academies" that commences on Thursday and goes on till Tuesday.
As per the programme laid down for the week, some of the top players from Dubai clubs will be invited to sign T-shirts and autographs for aspiring footballers under the theme ‘You are the Future' in an attempt to spark the youngsters' desire for football.
On Friday, clubs that have won titles in various age group competitions will be honoured at the Academies Forum. On May 16, the Al Shabab Club's football academy will be launched.
