Youth football in focus

The state of youth football in Europe and the future prospects for this vital sector of the game will be in the spotlight in the French resort of Cannes over the next three days as UEFA stages its 9th Elite Youth Football Conference.

Elite forum
Technicians, youth football experts and national association representatives from throughout Europe will gather for the event from Tuesday to Thursday, which will be preceded by the fourth UEFA Forum for Elite Club Youth Coaches on Tuesday morning. The coaches' forum will look at youth academy issues, the relationship between club academies and the stipulations of the UEFA club licensing system, the impact on academies of rules regarding locally-trained players and potential support measures that UEFA and the national associations could offer. The relationship between national youth teams and clubs will also be a topic for discussion.

Youth football importance
The importance of youth football in Europe will be highlighted at the subsequent conference, which opens on Tuesday afternoon. UEFA runs a series of youth competitions which provide invaluable international experience for today's talents, and thereby helps to develop the heroes of tomorrow, thus safeguarding the game's future good health.

Development programmes
This year's UEFA European Under-17 Championship and UEFA European Under-19 Championship will come under review, both in terms of promotion and organisation and with the help of representatives of the teams that made the later stages of the two competitions, and a couple of national associations will also be presenting their specific youth development programmes. For example, Dominique Bijotat, the academy director at AS Monaco FC, will present details of activities at the club's "centre de formation", one of the renowned training and education centres which have helped produce a wealth of gifted footballers in France over the years.

Anti-doping drive
UEFA's anti-doping campaign has been stepped up in recent years, and young players have been a particular target in concerted efforts to warn them of the dangers of taking drugs. The issue will come under the spotlight once again in Cannes. The workings of uefa.com's new educational and grassroots site, Training Ground, will be explained to delegates, as well as UEFA's youth coaching licence, and pointers will be set marking the way for Europe's youth football in the coming years.

Youth draws
Another highlight of the Cannes programme will be the draws for the elite rounds of the 2007/08 U17 and U19 competitions, which will be held from 17.45CET on Wednesday afternoon. The qualifying rounds of the same competitions for the 2008/09 season will be decided on Thursday afternoon with the draws getting under way at 16.00CET.