SINGAPORE, 8 OCTOBER 2019 – As part of efforts to contribute to the development of football in the region, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) recently hosted the FIFA Technical Directors workshop from 30 September to 5 October 2019.

 

The programme, which was kick-started by FIFA in 2016, is aimed at developing the capabilities of Technical Directors through equipping them with additional knowledge in areas that are crucial to the overall football development.

 

Delegates from 15 Asian Football Confederation Member Associations (MAs) attended the six-day workshop which covered topics such as FIFA’s development strategy and capacity building approach, match, training and coach education analysis as well as national football and technical development.

 

To facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience, the Technical Directors also shared the philosophy and methodology of their respective MAs in key areas of technical development.

FAS President Lim Kia Tong said: “This is indeed an excellent approach by FIFA to help the Technical Director of MAs to be the visionary of the technical development of a country’s football…I am sure that this workshop will enable all the participants to see the technical aspects of managing their country’s football in a different lens and will provide them with greater confidence as they navigate their way through the various aspects of the job.”

 

FIFA Head of Technical Leadership Programmes Gareth Jennings said: “One of the areas where we really looked at is supporting Technical Directors specifically with the skillsets required in a technical leadership position. Many of them come from either a coaching or playing background and have an understanding of the game and details required from a Technical Director from the technical side. But as they go into a technical leadership position, it’s those leadership skills – managing people, being able to manage projects, putting in a long-term plan in place and being able to deliver on that – that we are trying to support them with.”

 

Recognising the integral need for the Technical Director and management side to be aligned in their vision in order to achieve overall success in football development, General Secretaries from the participating Member Associations were also invited to be part of the workshop.

 

“We have a very recent focus around building the relationship between the Technical Director and General Secretary. It’s a core relationship that is able to drive change and really strive for excellence within your programmes and deliver plans,” Jennings said. “The essential bit for us is that the Technical Directors have completely engaged in their learning and have a really clear concise long-term development plan in place that they are able to deliver on with the full backing of the MA, the General Secretary and all of their peers and the team that is working with them.”

FAS Technical Director Joseph Palatsides, who was one of the participants, felt that the workshop was very rewarding.

 

Joseph said: “I have only been here for four and a half months and still learning about Singapore football. What they did show us here at the workshop is where we can focus on certain areas, where we can ask for assistance in other areas from FIFA and the different programmes are in place.

 

“It was a great opportunity for me to meet my colleagues from other nations to see how they go about their business and for them to see how we do things here as well. The sharing of ideas is a great concept for all of us in this region where we can try to better ourselves and look at how different things are being done and how we can improve things to make our football better in Singapore,” he added.