New angle for Meridian
Wednesday 7 June 2006
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African technical experts at UEFA (UEFA)
The forthcoming tenth anniversary of the Meridian Project has given UEFA and its African sister confederation CAF the opportunity to add a new dimension to their relationship.
New dimension
The Meridian Project co-operation agreement was concluded by UEFA and CAF in Lisbon, Portugal on 30 January 1997 to promote the exchange of cultures between European and African football and to offer young footballers a unique learning experience within the framework of a football festival. After a decade of developing close ties, the project, which includes the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup competition, has been given a new concept which will focus on education - Training the Trainers. The plan concentrates on education in coaching, refereeing, sports medicine and administration, and will benefit all of Africa's 52 national associations.
Gathering information
The strategy adopted by UEFA and CAF involves a series of essential steps. In the first step, African instructors in the refereeing and coaching sectors are being invited to UEFA conferences and refereeing courses to gather vital practical and theoretical information from European experts. African technicians have been integrated into coach education symposiums, women's and youth football conferences, futsal conferences and grassroots courses, while African officials have attended referee instructor courses, Futsal and women's referee courses and UEFA's annual winter course for Europe's international match officials.
Teach other teachers
The next step will be to disseminate the information gathered at UEFA events. For example, CAF will organise pan-African courses for youth football coach educators under the supervision of the African experts supported by UEFA. The same passing on of knowledge will take place within the African refereeing sector. Ultimately, African national associations and CAF will acquire the self-reliance to organise further educational courses on a national level.
Meridian Cup
Leading national youth sides from each continent have participated in previous editions of the UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup, which was first staged in Lisbon in 1997. The 1999 event was held in Cape Town, South Africa and the 2001 tournament was played in the Puglia region of southern Italy. Egypt hosted the 2003 competition, with the 2005 showpiece taking place in Turkey. The UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup will continue under a new format, comprising a two-legged match between two continental all-star Under-18 teams. The first game will be in Barcelona next February, and feature two squads of 20 players and two coaches from Europe and Africa, managed by the UEFA and CAF technical directors.
Barcelona conference
The educational element within the new concept will see a five-day Meridian Conference in Barcelona between 26 February and 2 March 2007, focusing on the theme Elite Player Development. The Spanish Football Federation, the local Catalan footbal association, FC Barcelona and the Barcelona city authorities are joining UEFA and CAF in organising the event. On the programme will be lectures, discussion groups and visits to training sessions involving the Barcelona youth team. Celebrating youth through European and African football integration is the aim of the conference.
Fresh dynamism
"We are very satisfied with the encouraging results achieved so far by the Meridian Project," said UEFA President Lennart Johansson. "Together with CAF, we have decided to create a new concept to bring fresh dynamism and to allow all of the African associations to benefit from this aid programme. We feel it is one of UEFA's responsibilities to help promote football in other continents, together with the respective confederations, and to help educate people involved in it."
Better long-term effect
"We will have a more education-oriented approach by bringing coaches together, and hope this will have a better long-term effect on football in Africa," added UEFA Chief Executive Lars-Christer Olsson.
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