Meridian success relished

UEFA's technical director Andy Roxburgh believes the recent UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup and Conference in Barcelona was a "fascinating" experience for all involved.

New concept
The competition was overhauled following the fifth edition in Turkey in 2005 - when the top four European Under-18 teams competed against their African counterparts in a round-robin format – with the accent switched to education in the shape of a four-day conference involving coaches from all 53 UEFA member associations and 53 CAF members. Roxburgh believes the new format has proved its worth, telling uefa.com: "With new concepts you're always slightly concerned but we were quite confident this would go well, and so it proved. In the past the Meridian Cup only touched a few countries so when we thought about this we decided we would create a conference and invite every country from Africa and Europe.

'Varied and interesting'
"In doing so, we had representatives from 106 countries here for the conference," he went on. "We had a very interesting four days with our coaching colleagues, considering all aspects of player development including psychology, how to handle talent, and so on. In the meantime, we were very lucky as we were able to watch FC Barcelona's first-team training and also see their youth team on the training ground. We saw our two Meridian teams at work as well which was also advantageous, so it was a very varied and interesting programme."

'Absolutely fascinating'
The European and African selection squads included players from across each continent, and for Roxburgh one of the most intriguing aspects of the week was how the squads quickly adopted. "The coming together of players from a dozen different countries was absolutely fascinating, one of the most interesting things I've seen. Within 24 hours, once they had been on the pitch and started to train together, it really illustrated the old saying 'Football is an international language'. They started to gel, learned each others' nicknames and understand how each other would play and it was amazing to watch. They came from all around the continents and bonded, which was fantastic; it was not only a life experience for them but a great football experience as well."

Accent on friendship
Off the pitch, the event was notable for the relationships that developed between coaches and officials from the two confederations, an issue that gave Roxburgh particular pleasure. "The friendship between our CAF colleagues and those from Europe was really gratifying," he said. "Even at meal times the two teams were mixed, and that was the same with the conference participants. We didn't talk about integrating people, or anti-racism, because we were living the way it should be. The boys have all had a fantastic experience, an education in how to mix quickly with other people. For the African boys it was a fascinating exercise to come to another continent and a completely different environment."

'Unbeatable atmosphere'
The UEFA technical director paid tribute to the efforts of the Spanish Football Federation, Catalan Football Association and FC Barcelona, and has high hopes for the event’s long-term legacy. "It would be difficult to beat the atmosphere we had here," he said. "We hope the participants had an interesting and thought-provoking week and enjoyed their experience, and that it will give the teams an additional contribution to their development as players to make the next step. Some of them are already on the verge of becoming top players and we hope this experience will be a contribution towards their further development; I'm sure it will be."