McDonald’s football talent search launch
Fiji’s top youth footballers will now have more opportunities to compete regularly with the 2023 McDonald’s Talent Development League launch in Suva today.
The initiative is part of the Fiji Football Association’s (Fiji FA) five-year strategic plan focusing on youth development. The initiative was piloted last year and was part of a bid to raise footballing standards in the country.
Fiji was one of only eight countries chosen by the FIFA Talent Development Scheme to pilot the project due to its sound development strategy and plans for youth development.
The League will run for 20 weeks and will feature the nation’s top youth teams across four age groups from Under-9 through to U15.
Fiji FA technical director Timo Jankowski, who has been at the helm of this project said that the League is a great project.
“It will focus on talent identification and development,” he said.
“As a result, it will establish the base to nurture and build a stronger squad for the national team in the coming years.
“The vision of the Fiji FA technical department is to create opportunities and a pathway for the amazing natural movement of talent in Fiji. We hope that players fall in love with the game and express their talent through football. “Our mission is to build an evidence-based football development programme for Fiji. For the first time, Fiji FA has a complete Player Development Pyramid from Under-9 up to Under-19 and senior football.”
The League will see 2500 new registered young footballers who would be part of it with 160 teams from 11 districts participating from around the country.
“In the World Cup 2018, all players from the four semi-finalists France, Croatia, Belgium, and England started to play for a professional academy by the age of nine.
The League includes both boys and girls and will include the U9, U11, U13, and U15 categories. Four teams are participating from the four national divisions (including the Southern, Western, Northern, and Central Divisions) under each aged category with most categories requiring a minimum of four female players apart from the U9 which has a minimum of two, and the U15 category having the option to field both a boys and a girls team.
“Historically, successful women’s footballing nations have had national team players play for at least 15 years alongside boys who are also successful in the sport so the McDonalds Youth League will be played in a mixed format from U9 to U15,” said Jankowski.
There would be over 500 new female players participating which is a positive boost to women’s football which has also seen a rise in recent years.
The programme kicks off at 9am with competitions and the official launch will start at 10am. Fijian wonder boy Roy Krishna will be the special guest.