September 7 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has gathered together many of its top club coaches from across the region for its Third Elite Club Coaches Forum in Shanghai.
With an agenda that is driven by the coaches, the two-day meeting is a platform for the AFC’s performance leaders to share and opinions and discuss issues they are dealing with in what is the most diverse confederation in world football.
AFC Technical Director, Andy Roxburgh, who is leading the event, said: “These Forums are so valuable because it allows the sharing of views and experience from across Asia.
“For the second year in succession we have coaches from the West and East Zones of the AFC’s flagship Champions League and it showed last year that some of the challenges they face are extremely similar…
“This year we will have the opportunity to consider many elements of the game and also the chance to look in detail at tactical and logistical innovations from the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and how it impacts a club coach.”
Coaches present include four who are half way through the quarter finals of the AFC Champions League with their teams.
Two-time UEFA Champions League winner Paulo Sousa, now coach of Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian, who face Japan’s Kashima Antlers in the East Zone, is present alongside Choi Kang-hee, manager of another quarter-finalist Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC of Korea Republic and AFC Coach of the Year 2016, as well as Branko Ivankovic, the Croatian coach of Persepolis FC, from Iran who are involved in a tight tie against Al Duhail of Qatar. Winfried Schafer, the coach of Iran’s other quarter- finalists Esteghlal, who are facing Qatar’s Al Sadd, is also in attendance.
They were joined by coaches from Australia, Japan and China PR including Shanghai SIPG coach Vitor Pereira and Shanghai Shenhua’s Wu Jingui. Other Chinese Super League representatives were Chris Coleman, who led Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 and now coaches Hebei China Fortune and Li Xiaopeng of Shandong Luneng Taishan.
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