Coaches receive UEFA awards at Budapest youth conference

Two European coaches have been honoured with special UEFA awards on the closing day of the sixth UEFA Youth Conference in Budapest. Spain’s Iñaki Saez received a UEFA lifetime achievement award, and Frenchman Jean-François Jodar was presented with a UEFA award for his special contribution to the game.

Distinguished career
Iñaki Saez enjoyed a distinguished playing career, including 12 years at Athletic Club Bilbao. He won the Copa del Rey twice, and played three times for Spain’s senior national team. In 1975, he moved into coaching, serving in various capacities with Spanish clubs Athletic Club Bilbao, UD Las Palmas and Albacete Balompié before taking over as Spanish national youth team coach in 1996.

Just eight defeats
As a coach, he has looked after Spain’s Olympic, under-21, under-20, under-19, under-18 and under-17 teams, and lost just eight of a total of 98 matches. In that time, Spain have won the European Under-21 Championship in 1998, the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship and Meridian Cup in the same year, and finished runners-up in the 2000 Olympic Football Tournament.   

421 first-division matches
Jean-François Jodar played 421 matches in the French first division, and more than 500 in total in the top two divisions in France with Stade de Reims Champagne, Olympique Lyonnais, RC Strasbourg and FC Montceau-les-Mines. He played six times for the French national team, scoring one goal.

Senior assistant
Jodar’s coaching career began with FC Montceau-les-Mines in 1983, and he became a member of the French FA’s National Technical Direction (DTN) in 1987, as assistant to senior national-team coach Henri Michel. From 1987, he has been responsible within the DTN for France’s national Under-17 and Under-18 teams and professional club’s training centres, and has also served as national youth team co-ordinator.

World title
In 1997, Jodar’s French Under-18 team won the European Under-18 Championship, and this summer he enjoyed his greatest achievement as a coach so far, winning the FIFA World Under-17 Championships title with France in Trinidad and Tobago.

Conference closes
The awards ceremony brought the curtain down on the three-day youth conference in Budapest, during which delegates from UEFA’s 51 member associations discussed a variety of issues, including the future of the UEFA youth competitions and the protection of youth players. UEFA has pledged to review the structure of its youth competitions following a series of recommendations put forward by delegates at the conference.