ASIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION

In the fall of 2018, I was given the opportunity to continue working abroad. Former UEFA, current AFC technical director Mr. Andy Roxburgh had been looking for a specialist in his team who is proficient in youth football and knows the requirements of international elite football.

As I was active in this field in Hungary and under the auspices of UEFA also, I was invited to a professional conference from Asia, where I had the opportunity to get more information about job expectations and responsibilities. After the meeting, I was delighted to embark on the task, delighted that Mr. Roxburgh had found suitable and so I could join the AFC, which oversees Asian football all over Asia.

As Deputy Technical Director and Head of Player Development, my role is to support the development of youth football in the 47 Asian Member Associations - from Australia to Uzbekistan - to help build and set up national and club youth academic programs and to develop talent selection and development processes based on their country-specific football philosophies.

My current job and task are to help the Asian member associations to improve their own professional youth development plan, support and help them to create and build up their elite youth system and assistance to manage the necessary activities. My responsibility is to show for the 47 countries how to implement the newest football knowledge and know-how to the daily work with the most talented youth players to improve their professional football knowledge and skills, to maintain their positive and enthusiastic work attitude to achieve the highest level of professional football. I am working together and coordinating the different areas and topics with the different stakeholders like Technical Directors, Head of Youth Programs and Youth National Coaches to help them to design and operate their successful Elite Youth Programs and Player Development Systems.

It is a very emphasized and multifaceted task, it requires a lot of travel, but it is very interesting to see the situation of football in each country, to identify possible shortcomings and to help eliminate them and to provide professional guidance, theoretical and practical knowledge to professionals there and players of different ages, for the most talented players of each country.

As the leader of the technical study group teams, I do analysis of the play of the teams in the Asian national team tournaments, their tactical ideas, and I can observe up close the talents of each country. This work helps me stay in touch with events, trends, and tactical changes on the field. After all, the everyday life of my career so far has been on the football field, where I feel really at home.

Despite the different opportunities in the Asian regions, the love of football and the desire to develop can be experienced everywhere, and talent coupled with diligence and dedication can be discovered everywhere. I am sure that the time will soon come when Asian players will also be key players in the world’s top football and I am delighted to be part of this process with my work at the Asian Football Confederation.

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