Talent Development Scheme
Gday dear reader. “At FIFA, one of our overarching aims is to give every talent a chance. And the launching of the FIFA Talent Development Scheme is one of the keys to achieving that objective”, said FIFA President Gianni Infantino when introducing the TDS to the FIFA Member Associations (MAs).
FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger said “I am delighted that, with the launch of the FIFA TDS, we have taken another significant step towards giving every talent a chance”. In a nutshell, these statements emphasise on giving every talent a chance which is vital in as far as developing football is concerned.
Each MA that successfully applied for the TDS in 2022 will be supported by a dedicated team of FIFA high performance specialists who will help the MA to develop, iterate and execute a long-term plan for talent development.
The full implementation phase of the TDS will begin in 2023 and will be supported by training and education through the FIFA training centre, and knowledge sharing with accompanying financial and non-financial resources that will be provided to each participating MA on an annual basis from 2023 onwards. Throughout the TDS, each participating MA will be the driver of their own projects, with their dedicated high performance specialist taking on the role of a ‘thought partner’ to help in the design and implementation of the assigned talent development initiatives linked to an MA’s overall objectives.
OOD LAUNCH
Last Saturday, the TDS was officially launched in the country in an event that was held at the EFA Technical Centre in Lobamba. Even though this football development programme was introduced by FIFA to its MAs, the talent will be developed while being respectful of the local environment at each stage of the process.
This programme will provide comprehensive support as well as structures for the pathways that take talent from the point at which they enter the game all the way through to transition opportunities into senior football. Here in Eswatini, the programme’s participants is the identified talent from the Build it U13, Pick n Pay U15 Football Development Programmes and the other junior leagues in the country. The age groups are the U13, U15 and U17 for both boys and girls.
Currently these participants will be trained in six EFA centres which are Lobamba, Manzini, Matsapha, KaLanga, Mkhuzweni and Nhlangano. As an instrument for the implementation, there is a curriculum that guides the implementation, which includes the playing philosophy and the coaching philosophy among other things. The participants of this programme will train in their centres on weekends and during school holidays, the frequency of their training will be increased. In order for the TDS to be a huge success, every stakeholder in football has a significant role to play. As per FIFA president’s words “Everything is connected in our sport. We are all connected. Giving every talent a chance requires everyone to play their part.”
Till next week, football for all and safe life for all!