As part of the FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS), a Knowledge Exchange Workshop was held in Accra, Ghana.

From 17-21 June, the workshop brought together ten member associations (MAs), Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia.

The workshop enabled key members from each MA to share knowledge, discuss regional challenges, and explore the leadership capabilities required to accelerate the implementation of the TDS.

“The Knowledge Exchange Workshop in Accra provides a fantastic opportunity to engage with the member associations about the challenges and opportunities of elite development in their countries. We are able to highlight the potentials of the talent development scheme,” said Ulf Schott, Head of High Performance Programmes – FIFA. “It is especially important that General Secretaries have the platform to align and exchange ideas with the Technical Directors. Another key aspect of the workshop is the discussion on the development of academies.”

The main goal of FIFA’s TDS is to help raise the standards of national-team football around the world for both men and women, driven by a long-term dedication to global talent development. The TDS aims to help member associations fulfil their potential by ensuring that every talented player has a chance to be detected and developed .

With the TDS having now entered the stage of full implementation, Knowledge Exchange is one of its four pillars.

Held once a year in each confederation, these multi-day workshops are designed to bring together key members of staff from each respective MA responsible for the development of elite youth talent.

“It is difficult to describe the impact of the workshop in a few words, everyone’s situation is different, in terms of challenges, ways of working and culture, but the workshops are invigorating and very motivating to me,” said Augustine Owen Eguaoven, Technical Director – Nigeria Football Federation. “They allow me to see challenges from different perspectives and although we know the solution is not to copy and paste from other countries, we can gain really valuable insights to unlock the potential we have in Nigeria.”

During the workshop, the delegates were involved in discussions, participated in meetings, listened to presentations, and observed best practice sessions. Technical, leadership and management skills were all touched upon with five key themes:

“Such an exchange workshop by FIFA benefits us at many levels, by being in an environment to talk about football, training, structures and hearing from other countries in Africa opens our eyes and allows us to test and challenge our thinking and areas of work,” said Mohammed Ali Hammami, Technical Director – Fédération Tunisienne de Football. “Hearing from our friends from other countries on key topics such as identifying talented players, identifying coaches and how we can set up and establish great programmes is of huge benefit.”