Club coaches welcome UEFA platform

UEFA hosted Europe's leading club coaches on Wednesday in order to openly discuss a number of key issues around their jobs and the modern-day game.

The cream of the club coaching community offered a host of fascinating opinions on topics including the importance of the away goal in modern football, the future of extra time and penalty shoot-outs, and the number of substitutions coaches can make in a match. Discussions also focused on tactical and technical trends at UEFA EURO 2016, as well as in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

The UEFA Elite Club Coaches' Forum, which began in 1999, provides the chance for the top club coaches to meet each other in a relaxed environment away from their high-pressure everyday jobs, and to give UEFA their opinions, proposals and ideas to improve football. UEFA takes the feedback on board for inclusion in its wide-ranging discussions across various committees, expert panels and working groups.

"It's great to get all the coaches we have today to give up their time and make the contribution that they did," said forum chairman and UEFA coaching ambassador Sir Alex Ferguson, now putting his vast knowledge in the service of UEFA after a distinguished career. "It's an enthralling meeting because the contradictions in people's opinions were fantastic. The good opinions of experienced people in the game is invaluable."

Since 2013, UEFA has invited coaches who have overseen more than 100 UEFA Champions League appearances, as well as coaches from the UEFA Champions League round of 16 clubs and UEFA Europa League semi-finalists.

Sergey Rebrov, one of Europe's younger coaches, relished the opportunity to come to Nyon. "It was a pleasure to be together with the best European coaches," he reflected, "and I'm delighted to see that [UEFA] is listening to them."

"It was great that all of us were able to forget the difficulties we sometimes face in our day-to-day work, and just be able to chat. For me as a young coach, it's important to be able to talk to other coaches who have so much experience."

Sir Alex concluded: "The different coaches put forward different opinions, and I think that is really refreshing."

Among the coaches present in Nyon were Carlo Ancelotti (FC Bayern München), Mircea Lucescu (FC Zenit), Rafael Benítez (Newcastle United FC), José Mourinho (Manchester United FC), Arsène Wenger (Arsenal FC), Unai Emery (Paris Saint-Germain), Luis Enrique (FC Barcelona), Dieter Hecking (VfL Wolfsburg), Zinédine Zidane (Real Madrid CF), Rui Vitória (SL Benfica), Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus), Hein Vanhaezebrouck (KAA Gent) and Sergey Rebrov (FC Dynamo Kyiv).