President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has instructed to bring order to the system of football player training within six months. This was announced to journalists by the Chairman of the Association "Belarusian Football Federation" (ABFF) Nikolai Sherstnev following a report to the Head of State on the development of Belarusian football, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Nikolai Sherstnev emphasized the importance of the technology for nurturing a football player and bringing them to sporting excellence. "If this technology works, there will always be a great athlete at the end," he said.
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Therefore, the head of the ABFF continued, upon taking office, the task was to understand the existing system of football player training and compare it with the elite system of previous years, including during the Soviet Union. As a result, a number of shortcomings were identified. Previously, the system of children's and youth football training, which consisted of several stages, starting from regional children's and youth sports schools, worked clearly: "A clear pyramid for training young footballers was built, and a transition to reserve teams, youth teams, and, consequently, professional football was ensured."
Now, it is necessary to revive those best practices in modern conditions and bring order to the football player training system. "The task has been set to bring order within six months. That is, to build a system for training footballers, to ensure a smooth transition to youth football and adult football. To rectify everything that is currently unbalanced in the regulatory framework. Six months of fruitful work lie ahead, and what has been lost for various reasons over many years will be restored, and football will be made the sport that is loved and valued," stated Nikolay Sherstnev.
He emphasised that approaches need to be improved and kept up with the times: "We see where the world is moving today, where football development is heading in Europe. Everything must be done in accordance with this, so as not to fall behind. The system we create will be fundamental for many years to come."
Over the past year, a number of decisions have already been made aimed at improving football player training. "We see what we need. Firstly, to gather players at an earlier stage and provide them with conditions for working in the national team. FIFA requirements are lowering age limits. This issue has stalled for us. We have decided within the Federation to practically lower the age for selecting the best players from children's and youth sports schools from the regions, from football academies, to 12 years old. This will give these young players the opportunity to work together until they leave the academy," explained Nikolay Sherstnev.
The Chairman of the ABFF noted that previously, players graduated from football academies at 17 years old upon completing secondary school, but now a different approach has been developed. "A decision has been made to retain them. To make this team fundamental for the future development of football, i.e., 17-year-old players remain in the football academy. At 18, 19 years old, they work in the academy. The academy provides them with physical exertion, more intensive training.
the training process. Everything is under control. Plus international friendly matches, various tournaments, to ensure international competitive practice," he explained.
It has been decided that this team of 17-year-old footballers will play in the First League alongside professionals this year. "The season will, of course, give the lads a lot of experience. Both practical and theoretical," emphasized Nikolai Shershnev. "In any case, in a year or two, we will see the results of this team, completely different from what we have today."
Incidentally, this team is already achieving significant victories. For example, they won the Development Cup – in the decisive match, the 17-year-old footballers defeated their Russian peers by a score of 2:1. The recent match with a team from Saudi Arabia also ended with a positive result for the Belarusian youth team.
To foster a spirit of competition, improve the quality of training and player selection, and generally increase public interest in domestic football, it has been decided to introduce a permanent championship for the 12, 13, and 14 age groups starting from the current season.
This means that children's and youth sports schools will be obliged to form age-specific teams. Something that is currently lacking. There are no permanent championships – consequently, why should a children's and youth sports school have a football team? Accordingly, if there is no football team, why should a coach bother about any sporting parameters?" the head of the ABFF outlined the reasonable questions. "This is what I mentioned at the beginning – the system is unbalanced. It sort of exists, but it's unbalanced. And when we bring it together smoothly into one whole, the flywheel will start spinning, and there will be no need for management. We will need to make adjustments and provide assistance. But the flywheel will work on its own."
Teams from different schools will be able to participate in these competitions. "Whoever wishes to – register your team and participate. We do not discriminate. Sport unites. This will literally change the attitude towards sport within the season. These children will be under the eyes of all coaches, player selection will become more productive, and of course, there will be interest from parents and classmates. Stadiums will start to fill up. This flywheel will begin to work. There will be a completely different attitude towards football," Nikolai Shershnev is confident.
Source: belta.by