Giving youth a chance

Hectic week
The third UEFA Forum for Elite Club Youth Coaches takes place in Limassol, Cyprus from tomorrow, heralding a hectic week of UEFA football development activity on the Mediterranean island, including the 8th UEFA Youth Conference.

Variety of issues
The youth coaches – responsible for nurturing the stars of tomorrow – will address a variety of issues that affect their area of work within the modern-day game, in particular in view of measures taken by UEFA in recent times.

Club licensing
Talks will focus on how UEFA's club licensing system, introduced last season with football's wellbeing in mind, will affect the youth development programmes. Delegates will also address the major problems confronting youth development today, given the view expressed by critics that many clubs are more inclined to buy ready-made players than bring their own talent to the surface.

Homegrown players
The issue of homegrown players is also on the agenda, with both UEFA and the coaches having the opportunity to talk about UEFA's plans involving the local training of players. UEFA has expressed concern that some clubs are not training enough of their own players, and new measures introduced by the European body aim to create a better balance in domestic competitions, prevent clubs from simply hoarding players in squads and give locally trained players more chances to play in club first teams.

Coaches' Circle
Club youth coaches will also be given an introduction to the new UEFA Coaches' Circle. In February, UEFA's Executive Committee approved the setting up of this project to assist in the development of coaches in Europe. The Coaches' Circle is designed to play an important role in maintaining contact and providing information for this élite group of coaches between events organised by UEFA. A dedicated extranet, which includes technical reports, case studies, training routines etc has also been established.