15 September 2011

Five ways to develop youth football

Understandably, Nepali football fans are very disappointed with the recent Under-16 results both in the SAFF and AFC U-16 tournaments. Rightly or wrongly ANFA officials have always led us to believe that “We Are the Best at Youth Level,” so the fact that we are failing to get results in the youth ranks is depressing.

It is important to keep things in perspective though. Look at the Maldives for example. Results wise they are miserable at the youth level but their clubs and Senior National Team are very formidable in regional competitions. That is why football development experts almost uniformly say youth competitions are about developing player and not the final score.

Perhaps what is disheartening to Nepali football fans is that we know Nepal is always playing for results and never development and we still lose. Therefore it is like a double negative – not only are we losing, but our players are not developing!

Read the full article at GoalNepal.com