Coaching community look at past and future

Prominent personalities
The people responsible for leading each UEFA member association's coach education activities will join together with prominent personalities from the world of coaching and football's technical sector for the fifth UEFA Conference for Coach Education Directors, which begins on Monday.

Exchange of views
At such conferences, coach educators meet to exchange views and ideas about what is considered as an essential area of UEFA's work. European football's governing body and its football development division, led by UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh, feel it is crucial that football coaches are given the highest quality of education, to enable them to subsequently give football players high-quality coaching – thereby increasing the game's overall standards throughout Europe.

Poignant elements
This year's conference has a poignant element, in that it will take place in the country of Guy Thys, the legendary Belgian coach who passed away earlier this year. Thys led Belgium's national team to the UEFA European Championship final in 1980 and FIFA World Cup semi-finals six years later.

Thys tribute
"Guy Thys was always keen to pass on his experience and knowledge to other coaches, and will be sadly missed by his Belgian colleagues and the whole UEFA family," wrote UEFA President Lennart Johansson in his welcome message to the Brussels conference, which continues until Wednesday.

Renowned guest speakers
Discussions in Brussels will feature the men at the heart of UEFA's technical sector – the Technical Development Committee chaired by Dr Jozef Venglos (Slovakia), and the Jira Project Panel. Both bodies contain personalities with a wealth of coaching experience at national team, domestic club and association levels. These experts will be joined by renowned guest speakers, who will present a varied range of subjects.

Added weight
Coaches from Europe's 52 national associations and other continental confederations will be present to add their weight to the discussions. Following Monday's opening ceremony, a review will be held of European coaching over the five decades since UEFA was founded in 1954. "Reflections on the past automatically lead to thoughts about the present and anticipation of the near future," observed Mr Johansson.

Practical session
Tuesday's proceedings will focus on a practical session, in which the Belgian FA will demonstrate how they assess candidates for the professional coaching licence. Andy Roxburgh will also highlight developments in modern-day football with a look at the UEFA Champions League.

Update on convention
Delegates will be given an update on the UEFA Convention on the Mutual Recognition of Coaching Qualifications. Croatia and Slovakia are the most recent full members of the convention, which involves 35 national associations in total at present, and 21 in particular who are full members of UEFA's ambitious programme to upgrade coaching standards throughout Europe.

Coaching philosophies
European coaching philosophies and analysis methods are also on the agenda, with various countries presenting their programmes and experiences, and delegates will debate key issues in discussion groups before reporting back to the conference, giving UEFA the opportunity to gather useful information and recommendations for the future.