From Tuesday 16 to Thursday 18 April, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held their third AFC Coach Education Conference at Kuala Lumpur, where representatives from 45 Member Associations attended the three-day conference. Two of the Coaches Training Assistant Director, Mr. KIMURA Yasuhiko and Mr. KAWAMATA Noriyuki attended the conference from the Japan Football Association (JFA). This year’s conference was held with the theme “Making a difference," which gathered 74 participants from various nations. The participants were divided into 11 groups, depending on their preferred language, to hold discussions on various topics. Through the analysis of the World Cup held in Russia, the Member Associations discussed the tasks that lies ahead for the Asian teams. The programmes held in China PR was also shared as a successful case study for coach education. The conference covered a wide range of sessions which provided a precious opportunity for the Member Associations to think of their future directions. The JFA Technical Directors and Instructors are actively involved in conferences and seminars held by FIFA and AFC, to gather the most up to date information. The information provides insights to discuss the future direction of the Japan football community and they can be utilised to improve the development programmes for both players and coaches.

Attendants' Comments

KIMURA Yasuhiko, JFA Coaches Training Assistant Director
The theme of the conference was “Making a difference." The difference can be made through the quality of the players, or the quality of the coaches. We see constant development in the sport of football, and the coaches must keep up with those changes. This conference has made me reconfirm the importance to keep learning. We will continue to give our efforts to support and provide learning opportunities for the coaches. By dispatching AFC certified instructors to provide assistance for the Member Associations, the AFC is striving to establish licence programmes that meets their criteria and develop coaches at each of the countries. As shown in the example with the UEFA, by holding coaching conventions, it provides a platform for the coaches to interact with other coaches within Asia and ultimately help the improvement of the overall level of coaching in Asia. This can certainly have a major impact on the development of football in Asia. As the leader of coach development in Asia, there is a growing demand for the JFA to provide support for the Member Associations. We must develop human resources that can construct the licensing programmes and educate the instructors for each of these countries.

KAWAMATA Noriyuki, JFA Coaches Training Assistant Director
The key component of this conference was the AFC Coaching Convention. One of the pivotal keys for the development of Asian football is the coaches. At the AFC Coaching Convention, the Member Associations were asked to establish a coach development course that meets the criteria set by the AFC. This conference has provided us with the opportunity to learn the current status of each of the Member Associations and their future plans. The JFA has already been certified by the AFC to hold a professional license course. We may be a step ahead within the Asian nations, but in order to catch up with the UEFA nations, who leads the world, we have many tasks ahead of us. We were also given the opportunity to reconfirm the importance of the concept of “participant first,” and to provide guidance for the participants to improve themselves. We hope to take back the experience, knowledge, and ideas, and implement them to our coach development programmes in Japan.