Dubai: A top official from Fifa. the world governing body for football, made a fervent appeal to member nations to embrace the essentials of grass roots and youth development to ensure a proper and structured sustenance of the sport at the global stage.
"The focus from all national associations should be a careful following of the grass roots and youth development structure as laid down by Fifa. There are no shortcuts here, just a direct method of implementing what is laid down after years of study and research," Belhassen Malouche, Fifa's technical consultant, noted in his opening remarks in his "Vision of the International Federations in Youth Development Programme" at the 1st Dubai International Football Academies Forum, yesterday.
"Fifa encourages individuals to open private academies, but these ought to happen as long as there is a strict adherence to the guidelines laid down," he added.
The official disclosed that there is an excess of 250 million players registered through its 208 member nations, of whom more than 80 per cent belong to the grass roots and youth categories.
Right direction
"This not only proves to us that we are headed in the right direction, but also that the state of our sport is in good hands for the future," Malouche said.
He further pointed out that Fifa had conducted nearly 500 courses and seminars in 2010 alone, and these were run by its team of 12 development officers, of which three are based in Asia (Kuala Lumpur, Colombo and Muscat).
"Ninety-nine per cent of our income comes from our signature World Cup held once every four years, and we ensure that most of it is invested towards grass roots and youth development," Malouche assured.
The Tunisian, who has had stints as a technical consultant with the UAE Football Association besides short terms with Bani Yas and Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi, was confident of Fifa's new professional programme launched last year under the brand name "Performance".
"The idea of this programme is to improve the quality of daily football, and we can do this by starting young, even as early as under-6 going right up to the under-17s and under-20s," Malouche said.
He endorsed the fact that clubs need to pay attention to implementing a complete licensing programme that includes club secretariat, general manager, financial officer, security officer, doctor, physiotherapists, coaches, and safety and security officers, among others.
