By Mark Baber
October 2 – A wide-ranging Football Association of Singapore (FAS) – French Football Federation (FFF) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) focusing on youth development was signed at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore yesterday. In hailing the new MOU, representatives focused on the successes of the French youth system which was demonstrated as the France Under-20 side won the 2013 FIFA Under-20 World Cup title whilst the Under-19 side finished runners-up at the UEFA European Under-19 Championships.
France is the only country to have won all five 11-a-side men’s titles: the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Confederations Cup, Under-20 and Under-17 World Cups, and the Olympics. The France women’s Under-17 side also won the 2012 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup.
Much if this success has been attributed to the Clairefontaine Technical Centre which specialises in training the best youth footballers from the age of 13 to 15, from the Île-de-France region and whose graduates include Zinedine Zidane, Robert Pires, Youri Djorkaeff, Manu Petit, Patrick Viera, David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka, Sylvain Wiltord, William Gallas, and the great Thierry Henry.
However, FFF National Technical Director Francois Balquart was keen to stress that “our success is not only down to Clairefontaine. It’s just a symbol of French football. Our success is due to our football policies and the know-how which we have.”
Under the new MOU, Singapore intends to tap into this French know-how, sharing best practices in the development of football and enhancing the capabilities of the stakeholders, in particular youth development.
In addition there will be opportunities for the elite of talented young Singapore footballers, coaches, referees and officials to train at Clairefontaine and learn to speak French.
Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Zainudin Nordin, who recently set a target for the national Under-23 team to reach the final of the SEA Games at the end of the year and who is looking to the proposed bid for a Youth World Cup in 2019 said: “I’m excited about this partnership. This is a clear intent for us that we’re willing to explore talents around the world and see what more can be done to improve Singapore football and the S.League.
“Every time we sign an MOU, there will be serious questions posed to me. But I can ensure that this is not a mere paper exercise but one with real solid activities.
“FFF will be linking us up with the relevant parties. We already have a collaboration with FC Metz and this will definitely open new doors for us in terms of linkages with other clubs.”
The FFF has existing partnerships with a number of football associations in Europe and Africa, but this is the federation’s first real venture into South-East Asia.
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