Courtesy: The AFC.com


AFC driving futsal forward says Targholizade

Friday, 01 July 2011

Doha: AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Futsal Department Director Ali Targholizade believes the sport is fast gaining popularity on the continent and the successful implementation of a few upcoming projects will further boost its growth.

"When you compare this edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship with the inaugural edition held in Iran last year, we see plenty of positives," the Iranian told www.the-afc.com.

"There's an overall improvement in the level of performance by all teams, especially those from Uzbekistan and Thailand. The Technical Committee is happy with the review report and we strongly feel the level is steadily going up."

Targholizade revealed that next year's AFC Futsal Club Championship will be the biggest yet with no fewer than seven nation's sending teams to take part and attributed this rapid growth to a collective effort from all those involved in the Asian indoor game.

"With the League champions from Australia, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Myanmar, UAE and the Philippines joining the 2012 edition, the sport can only get better," he said.

"And it has been happening because of the earnest efforts of all key stakeholders - the players, coaches, administrators and AFC officials.

"The AFC has made it a point to conduct as many coaching courses as possible in order to improve the technical standard. Moreover, from this tournament onwards, Level 1 licence has been made mandatory for coaches of participating clubs. I believe that too has done a power of good," he said.

While Asian futsal is increasing exponentially thanks to all those involved in the sport in the continent, Targholizade also admits that the influence of non-Asian professional players has also played its part in the growth of the game.

"We've players of world standard mainly in Iran and Japan," the 49-year-old continued.

"In addition to that, the non-Asian professional players who've been coming to various Asian clubs have set high standards to their team-mates. I feel that too has contributed in a big way.

Iran, and to a lesser extent Japan, have been the standard bearers for Asian futsal and Targholizade attributes this to their well-established domestic leagues.

And it is the club game in Asia that the AFC is striving to develop, with the Technical Study Group Co-ordinator waxing lyrical about the administrative body's comprehensive plans to promote and advance futsal.

"In fact, it's that success formula the AFC wants to spread to the rest of Asia. We're in the process of preparing professional club licensing along the lines of the AFC Champions League model by 2014, and it should bring drastic changes to the way the game is played and perceived on the continent.

"Meanwhile, the AFC's "Train the Trainers" programme has been launched with the idea of improving the overall standard of coaching and its first edition was held at the AFC Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

"As many as 27 participants from 22 countries took part in that, and we'll have its second edition from October 1 to 6. The AFC has also lined up a few workshops for teams participating in its futsal tournaments.

"Come next year, directors from those countries, and experts from Spain and Italy will assemble at a workshop and will exchange expertise".





Courtesy: The AFC.com


'Club futsal is top priority'

Saturday, 02 July 2011

Doha: Enhancing the development of club futsal is the priority of the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Futsal Committee and that will lead to the growth of the game on the continent, said its Chairman Richard K Lai.

"The Second AFC Futsal Club Championship has been a great success and the overall level of teams has shown remarkable improvement," Lai told www.the-afc.com.

"When the club sides play well, that in turn helps the national teams. In Iran and Japan, the national teams have benefited greatly from their Pro-Leagues. The AFC wants to adopt Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan and Thailand as the role models to develop the game on the continent.

"Iran did a good job at the last World Cup in Brazil in 2008 and their performance proved that Asian futsal is scaling new heights. We need to focus more on the clubs and that we believe is the best way to catch up with Europe and South America," said Lai.

Lai, who is also an AFC Executive Committee member, said there would be added emphasis on the West Asian countries.

"The Gulf countries, for example, have excellent facilities, but I doubt whether they're utilising it in the best way. The extreme hot weather during this time of the year makes it difficult for teams to play football, but with the great facilities they possess, they can play futsal throughout the year and they should be doing that," he said.

Lai said the hard work put in by all at the AFC Futsal Department had contributed the game's growth, but added that barriers need to be broken for the game to attain the status it enjoys in Europe and South America.

"If you notice, football has been popular in Asia for more than a century while futsal has a history of just over a decade. The very fact that we've organised only 11 Asian championships for national teams so far stands proof of that. But we're working on ways to promote the game in schools and organise more number of youth tournaments. We want to make the game more funny and spectator-friendly. Futsal is steadily evolving and we, at FIFA, want to trigger the growth by making the necessary rule changes," said Lai, who is also a member of the FIFA Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee.



Courtesy: The AFC.com


UAE are next AFC futsal hosts

Saturday, 02 July 2011

Doha: The United Arab Emirates will host the next edition of the AFC Futsal Championship from May 12 to 22, 2012.

In its first meeting for the 2011-2015 term under the chairmanship of Guam's Richard Lai, the AFC Futsal Committee decided to award the championship to the Gulf emirates.

"The UAE has proposed Dubai as the host city and we're almost sure of organising it there," said Richard Lai.

As many as 24 countries will take part in the 12th edition of the tournament. It will also be the qualification event for the 2012 World Cup to be held in Thailand.

Meanwhile, it has also been decided to organise the third edition of the annual AFC Futsal Club Championship in July 2012. The venue for the tournament will be decided later.

All the decisions of this committee need to be ratified by the AFC Executive Committee.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com