The Technician N°45•E :Anglais 11.1.2010 15:16 …...the fans, the lifeblood of professional...

N EWSLETTERFOR COACH ES

NO 45FEBRUARY 2010

Editorial:Image Rights andResponsibilities

Interview:Bert van Marwijk

Football –Art or Science?

FootballingQuestions

The World CupExperience

RefereeingMatters

I n c l u d i n g

The Technician N°45•E :Anglais 11.1.2010 15:16

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I M P R E S S U MEDITORIAL GROUPAndy RoxburghGraham Turner

PRODUCTIONAndré VieliDominique MaurerAtema Communication SAPrinted by Artgraphic Cavin SA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSHélène Fors

COVERBy beating Bosnia-Herze-govina in the play-offs Portugal clinched a place inthe World Cup finals in South Africa. Coach CarlosQueiroz is counting on his star striker, CristianoRonaldo, to bring his team success there.(Photo: Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)

Andres Iniesta up against Javier Zanetti in the UEFA ChampionsLeague tie between FC Barcelona and Inter Milan


IMAGE RIGHTSAND RESPONSIBILITIESE D I T O R I A LBY ANDY ROXBURGH,UEFA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

What do FC Barcelona, David Beckhamand the UEFA Champions League havein common? Our marketing colleagueswould immediately shout: they’re allbrands. In today’s world of commercialjargon, football players, clubs, competi-tions, even coaches, are considered to be a brand – that means they havean identity, a trademark which is in-stantly recognisable and, in professionalsport, sellable. Supporters are said tohave brand loyalty because they faith-fully follow their teams, while the popu-larity of the player, the club, the compe-tition depends on the brand’s image:how it is perceived by the public atlarge. Of course, there is no brand, noimage without a product and in footballthat means the game itself, with itssporting, social and historical values.But surely all this talk of brands, imagesand products has very little to do withtop coaches – their job is to win foot-ball matches, period. Or is it?

The NFL (American football) is veryprotective of its brand name and im-age. It makes sure that players, coachesand officials follow league rules, lawsand guidelines. Winning games is onlypart of the equation for them. The Rugby Football Union in England hascreated an “image of the game“ taskforce following recent scandals, whichincluded fabricated blood injuries de-signed to deceive the opponents andthe officials. The image of rugby as agentleman’s game has been tarnishedby gamesmanship, foul play, violenceand feigned injuries. So the product –the game – may have a lot to offer, but if its reputation is damaged, thenthe fans, the lifeblood of professionalsports, could lose faith, and, subse-quently, interest.

In football today, with the global ex-posure which the game gets from TVand other media, the coaches’ actionsare constantly exposed to detailed public scrutiny. The behaviour of theplayers on the pitch is also a reflectionon the coach, because ultimately he is responsible for the way his team performs and acts. For example, if hisplayers are prone to diving, to cheatingthe referee, this damages the image of the game and the good name of the club. AC Milan’s Leonardo is in nodoubt: “Top clubs need to set an exam-ple – it is about ethics.“ And Sir Alex Ferguson concurs when he declares:“Something must be done about div-ing.“ Protecting the image of the prod-uct, the game itself, the brand, the cluband the competition, therefore needs to be part and parcel of every coach’sjob. As Arsène Wenger says, “the teamis a reflection of the coach,“ and thismeans the team’s attitude as well as itsplaying performance, style and results.

The coach’s personal image also comesinto this equation. The way he conductshimself, as well as the success of histeam, has an impact on the public per-ception of him. Gérard Houllier, the former Liverpool FC and Olympique Lyonnais manager, once said that “themost important moment of the weekfor a coach is the 30-second sound bite after a match.“ This is especially truewhen the team has lost, because whatthe coach says at that moment will be heard on 24-hour TV channelsby the players, their wives, the board,the supporters and the next opponents.It is therefore important to convey apositive image, even during difficulttimes. Most important of all, the coachmust be genuine and natural, and notthe product of some marketing or PRadvice – the football fan wants the realthing and not a glossy caricature.Some things which have a negative impact on the image of the game arenot necessarily within the influence ofthe coach, such as hooliganism, illicitbetting, doping, etc. But it is helpful ifthey, as high-profile members of the

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football community, offer their supportto the governing bodies and the au-thorities in the battle to keep the gamefair and attractive. Everybody in foot-ball has a duty to guard it from exploita-tion, manipulation and dishonesty.

If the product is poor and the image is bad, then the brand will be weak. In football, this means that coaches andplayers must play their part in promot-ing and protecting the game. Many will make money from image rights, butwith those rights comes responsibility.The terminology is new – brands, im-ages, products – but the story is an old one. Skill, authenticity, attractivenessand fair play are the cornerstones of the game and are fundamental ingredi-ents for the customers. It is said that abrand is a promise, but it is much morethan that – FC Barcelona, David Beck-ham, and the UEFA Champions Leagueshould be a guarantee of quality, andfootball’s technicians should be at theforefront in delivering a ‘product’ whichis dramatic, spectacular and clean.

David Beckham is an expert at taking care of his image.

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1 • How would you describe yourstyle of management/leadership?I think it is very important that you havethe respect of your players. How you do that can vary. I think you have to bea personality and maybe a father figure.You have to have a style that makes the players want to do something foryou. That’s important. The best thing is that they will do it because of yourquality. I’m not really democratic, but I think it is vital that the players can trust you, that they know you can lovethem, and that you can stand amongthem when appropriate. But you mustalso be able to keep your distance. You have to be clear and honest withyour players and I try to be both. Also,you have to have the guts to give them responsibility. The youth of the momentare programmed not to take responsi-bility. When we were growing up in thestreets, we took our decisions. Nowplayers ask you what to do next. So wemust point them in the right directionand they must know that you can take decisions. You must be clear in

technical football things and, aboveall, you must have respect.

2 • Who influenced your development as a coach?Nobody in particular. From an earlyage I was a player, a left-winger, andI thought I knew everything. But, later I moved to midfield and sawthe game differently. Finally, I playedat the back and had another per-spective and it is during those play-ing times that I learned the most. I learned a lot from good and badcoaches, but not anyone special. Ilearned from my own mistakes, andI learned, from my own experiences,how players feel. When I come intothe dressing room, the players musthave the feeling that I know whatthey are thinking and feeling. Theyhave to know that I understand. I have great respect for coaches who didn’t have a professional foot-ball career, because for me it is very important that the coach and theplayers can understand each other.

I N T E R V I E WBY ANDY ROXBURGH,UEFA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

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3 • Rinus [Michels] used to say that it took a certain type of perso-nality to handle the Dutch team. Do you agree?In the Netherlands it is never goodenough, even when you win 7-0 –enough is not enough. But we playedin EURO 2008 and we beat Italy andFrance and everything was so good.Suddenly, we lost the next game be-cause we lost focus. We seem to live inextremes. Because we are a smallcountry we need to be creative. Somewould say we have an arrogance, butthis can be a strength if it means con-fidence and tactical intelligence. We are always thinking about tactics andhow we can beat the other team. I like to use the same organisation butwith a difference in the details. We always want to outsmart the opponent,because when you don’t have greatdepth in your squad, it is not enoughto battle; you have to be clever. Fromour history, we have always been creative people. And from what I havepreviously said, Rinus is right that it is

BERT VAN MARWIJK

AS A PLAYER, BERT VAN MARWIJK PLAYED ON THE LEFT WING, THEN MOVED TO MIDFIELD,

BEFORE ENDING HIS CAREER AS A DEFENDER. HE PLAYED FOR GO AHEAD EAGLES, AZ ALKMAAR AND

MVV MAASTRICHT AMONG OTHERS, AND WAS CAPPED FOR THE NATIONAL TEAM. UNFORTUNATELY,

INJURY DEPRIVED HIM OF THE OPPORTUNITY TO PLAY IN THE FIFA WORLD CUP IN ARGENTINA IN 1978.

HIS COACHING CAREER WAS LAUNCHED IN THE YOUTH PROGRAMME OF MVV MAASTRICHT AND,

AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF NURTURING YOUNG PLAYERS, HE MOVED TO THE PROFESSIONAL RANKS.

HIS FIRST TASTE OF A CUP FINAL CAME IN THE NETHERLANDS WITH FORTUNA SITTARD FC, BUT IT WAS

IN 2002 THAT HE STRUCK GOLD WHEN HE WON THE UEFA CUP WITH FEYENOORD. FOLLOWING

A TWO-YEAR STINT AT BV BORUSSIA DORTMUND IN GERMANY, HE RETURNED TO FEYENOORD AND WON

THE KNVB CUP IN 2008. IN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT SUCCESS, HE REPLACED MARCO VAN BASTEN

AS THE HEAD COACH OF THE DUTCH NATIONAL TEAM FOLLOWING EURO 2008 IN AUSTRIA/SWITZERLAND.

IN HIS NEW ROLE, HE TOOK THE NETHERLANDS TO THE FINALS OF THE 2010 WORLD CUP

BY WINNING THEIR QUALIFYING GROUP IN IMPRESSIVE STYLE. HE WAS A CREATIVE PLAYER WHO

HAS DEVELOPED INTO A POSITIVE, IMAGINATIVE COACH AT THE TOP LEVEL – HE IS…


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very difficult to handle a Dutch team,because everyone wants to be an indi-vidual. Also, our players are comingfrom different countries to join the national team and they earn a lot ofmoney. We have a lot of different per-sonalities to deal with, but the onecommon ingredient is that they all lovethe game, just like me and my staff.

4 • From a playing perspective, whatis your philosophy of the game?What is important for me is that we playin a way that suits the players, but alsome as the coach. They have to have thequalities to do what you want – youcan’t ask them to do things they can’tdo. They have to be motivated to dowhat you want them to do. It is impor-tant to use the whole field and I like tohave players on the wings. In midfield,we have either two deep and one in anadvanced position, or the other wayaround, both shapes creating a triangle.We are always trying to create a thirdman situation. I like to play in a creativeway, but I also like to win. I have never

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told the team to go for a draw. Wecome with our approach but are able to deal with every type of opponent. My organisation stays, so that we canplay our game. Some countries can per-form well without the ball, while Dutchplayers only feel good when they havepossession. Our philosophy is to buildthe play, to use the ball in a constructiveway and not just to play long. One ofthe most important things today is thetransition, particularly when you lose the ball. Because we like to dominatethe ball, the counter against us can bethe biggest danger. We try to get theball back as quickly as possible. Thismeans that the front and middle playersmust understand the need to react and to press the ball. If FC Barcelona’sstars can do that, we can do that. Whenpeople look at Barça, they see their cre-ative players, but they are also impres-sive in the way they respond to losingthe ball. Their philosophy is the same asmine. What I like is to create situationswhere we have an extra man in themidfield; we train a lot to achieve that.

The execution of the pass, the timing, is so important.

5 • You started out as a youth coach.What was your attitude towardsplayer development?I started as a youth coach when Istopped playing and I did that for eightyears. The emphasis was very much on technical work. For 19 years I was aprofessional player, but I never thoughtof becoming a coach. However, whenyou stop playing you want to stay in thegame, because football is your world.So with the youths I started my coach-ing career and I focused on technical,tactical training. I am also a believerthat, when possible, young playersshould stay at home. When you are really talented you will always becomea good player anyway. But it is also im-portant to take care of your education,to have your friends. Maybe when youare 14 years old you can move to an-other town to join a big club. The organ-isation in youth clubs in Holland is verygood, even the structure of amateur

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The Netherlands did not drop a singlepoint in their qualifying group. Rafael van der Vaartin action againstScotland.

BERT VAN MARWIJK PICTURED AFTER THE DRAW

FOR THE WORLD CUP FINALS WITH THE COACHES OF TWO

OF THE TEAMS THAT THE NETHERLANDS WILL BE

COMING UP AGAINST IN SOUTH AFRICA: MORTEN OLSEN

(DENMARK, LEFT) AND PAUL LE GUEN (CAMEROON)


football is good. We can, however, improve the quality of the coaches. Youcan always make improvements. Also,we need to pay the youth coaches bet-ter, because then you motivate themeven more. Youth players at top clubsdon’t take responsibility any more, theydon’t think for themselves. Everybodytells them what to do, but I like them to be trained to think for themselves.When we played on the streets wewere very self-reliant. They don’t do that any more. There needs to be timefor free play and they need to be challenged more.

6 • When you won the 2002 UEFA Cup with Feyenoord, what wasspecial about that campaign?One thing for me was very important –we were not the biggest club, with themost money, but we had the best teamthat year, in that competition. The cur-rent Dutch team is capable of beatinganyone, but they have to be able tosustain a high level over a long period.This is what we did at Feyenoord. Wewere very confident, a positive arro-gance you could call it, and this showed.For example, we won away to Inter Milan, motivated by their disregard for us.

7 • How do you reflect on your time as the head coach of Borussia Dortmund?I had a very good time at Dortmund.The crowd there was fantastic, with

up to 80,000 every game. I learned alot because I was exposed to a differ-ent mentality. We in Holland are taughtto say what we think and this is not the norm in Germany. I really liked being there and I gained a lot from theexperience. The German players werevery focused on the physical side ofthe game, while we in Holland are ob-sessed by the technical/tactical. But wecan definitely learn some things fromthem. The amazing thing about Ger-man players is that they can win whenplaying a bad game, whereas for us it is very difficult to win a match whenwe don’t play well. The Germans havea great winning mentality. We can alllearn from each other and I can’t un-derstand when some people are notopen and willing to learn from others.

8 • Do you find the demands of the national team greater thanthose at club level?When you are a club coach here, atAFC Ajax or PSV Eindhoven, everyonetalks about you and you are on TVevery week, but when you are thecoach of Holland, they talk about youevery four or five weeks. But the pres-sure is ten times greater and that is the big difference. I cannot train withthe players every day like a club coach,but I still have to produce results. With a club, the attention, the impact,is regular week after week, while thenational coach comes into focus less

frequently but then the intensity is far,far greater. That is the big difference.

9 • You have successfully workedwith a lot of top players, many with strong personalities. Is thereanything in particular which you have learned from this experience?When you are working with superstarplayers and you deal with them and talkto them in a normal way, and you showthem that you love football, they likethat. I remember my son-in-law, Markvan Bommel from FC Bayern Münchenand Holland, telling my daughter that hethought I was a good player. He onlysaw me kick the ball once but, like alltop players, he could instantly recognisesomeone who could play. The thingsyou say, the way you walk, the way youkick the ball are all indications to playersthat you are a football person. They canrelate to you and you can communicatewith them, but it must be in a naturalway. Ultimately, the players have to re-alise that we can only succeed by doingthings together. I agree with Sir Alex Ferguson when he says that it is goodfor players to have an ego, a pride inwhat they do, and that we need to havethose star players to succeed.

10 • As a graduate of the Dutchcoaching school, what is specialabout the training that youngcoaches receive there?When you train as a coach here in Holland, the most important thing theyteach you is how to watch a game – to analyse what is going wrong and then how to train the players. What wedo well here is to make the training of coaches as realistic as possible. I have contributed to our pro licencecourses and talked about practicalthings, such as how to deal with pres-sure, how to deal with other cultures,how to manage your staff, etc. We want young coaches to think for them-selves, to be themselves.

11 • As you look forward to theWorld Cup in South Africa, what areyour expectations in relation to thestandard of competition and theNetherlands’ chances of success?I’m very realistic, but at the same time I believe in something. We are capable

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Bert van Marwijk leading a coaching session with the Dutch national team

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of winning against any team, but wewill have to be well structured and theplayers will have to realise that. In thequalifying group, we had an impor-tant moment up in Iceland. We onlyneeded a point to reach the finals andwe had four games still to play, so we could have relaxed but instead weplayed very well. The players now re-alise that it never stops, that we alwayshave to be at our best. Sometimes we don’t have our top players avail-able, either at the front or the back,but we must always defend as a team– this is very important and somethingI have tried to impart to them. Whenyou defend as a team there needs to be trust among the players, andwhen there is trust, the confidencegrows. I think we have improved inthis aspect of the game. Added to thiswe have players who can make a dif-ference. But we are a country of only16 million people and when we losethree or four of our key players, it isnot possible to open a door and bringin others of that level. We have to

stay fit and be at our best, mentallyand tactically, if we are going to suc-ceed. In my opinion, Spain is thebest team at the moment, but Eng-land and Brazil are very dangerous.

12 • What kind of team-behind-the-team will you have in South Africa?Our team-behind-the-team includesfour scouts, a goalkeeping coach andthree assistant coaches – Frank deBoer and Phillip Cocu are part of thisstaff because they have so much experience in the EURO, World Cupand UEFA Champions League. Theyare at an age when it is easy forthem to relate to the players, andthey also get a lot of respect fromeveryone in our team. Also Frankplayed at the back, Phillip was a mid-fielder and I was an attacker, and thismeans we have specialists in eacharea. I give them a lot of responsi-bility because the team-behind-the-team is one of the most importantthings if we are to perform at our

best. All of our backroom staff are ex-players – the chief scout was ateam-mate of mine and I trust him totally. If any one in your technical/medical staff becomes negative thenthey must go, because one little nega-tive thing and you don’t win the final.

13 • How do you see the future of international football?The signals now suggest that thebiggest clubs in the world must becontrolled in terms of financial fair play,and it seems that the financial crisis is helping to bring football people to-gether. Technically the game is gettingfaster and better. But everyone needsto keep their own style. Because manyof our players are playing abroad, thefirst thing I have to say to them is ”now we play the Dutch way”. This, ofcourse, is possible because they werebrought up and developed in Holland.The best compliment we can get iswhen someone says, without knowingthe names of the competing sides,that it is a Dutch team. As I said be-fore, I am realistic, but I am also ideal-istic, and because of that, I am veryhopeful that international football willcontinue to blossom in the future.

14 • What are the main compe-tences/qualities that a top coachneeds today?Personality is a vital quality. The wayyou deal with things can be different,but you must gain respect. You mustbe able to influence people and to getthem to do what you want. As I saidearlier, when I was young I thoughtthat I knew everything, but now I havelearned to listen, although I still makemy own decisions. When you are coachof a top team and you lose three orfour games everyone is talking to youand some coaches are swayed bywhat they hear. For me, it is importantnot to show fear and not to be influ-enced by others’ opinions – you musttrust yourself. You also need thecourage to risk making mistakes. Teamselection is a priority – the right peopleon the pitch and the right people inthe backroom staff. Your philosophy of football, your personality and yourattitude are the main coaching compe-tences at the top level of the game.

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WITH BORUSSIA DORTMUND,

BERT VAN MARWIJK

GIVES FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

TO SAHR SENESIE BEFORE

PUTTING HIM ON THE FIELD.

Bert van Marwijk lifts the UEFA Cup he won with Feyenoord in 2002.


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One of the problems is that ‘science’has become a nebulous term since itsoriginal definition as ‘possession ofknowledge’. Having evolved into ‘sys-tematised knowledge that can be madea specific object of study’, the term hassince been diverted into all sorts of curious areas, such as ‘science fiction’.The history of football has been markedby an increasing use of medical sciencebut, in the 21st century, maybe themost publicised marriage took place in 2002, when AC Milan inaugurated,

at their Milanello training complex, the MilanLab – a name which clearlylinks science and footballing tradition.

The declared aim of the MilanLab wasto “contribute strongly to optimising the team’s results”. The tools, including chiropractic elements, were to be foundin science, technology, cybernetics and psychology – only the last of whichcould be considered as one of the technician’s ‘traditional’ domains. Theuse of specialised sports psychologistsin football was initially controversial (a major debating point when Spain’sgold-medal 1992 Olympic team em-ployed one, for example) but has nowbecome a common feature among top clubs and national teams. However,analysis was taken a stage further byone of the other publicised features ofthe MilanLab: a glassed-in ‘mind room’where up to eight players can relax inergonomic seats after training and relaxfor 20 minutes while their mental stateis being analysed via electrodes whichare attached to their scalp, chest andfingers and which transmit measure-ments of brainwave activity, muscle tension and sweat response to a com-puter. The results are combined withbiochemical and neurostructural data in a fully computerised system whichassesses each player’s physical andmental condition according to objectivescientific data. This allows the MilanLabteam to design individual preparation

– FOOTBALL –ART OR SCIENCE?

THE TITLE IS PROVOCATIVE BECAUSE IT HINTS AT PITTING ART AGAINST SCIENCE

AS IF THEY WERE OPPONENTS ON THE PITCH. ON THE FACE OF IT, FOOTBALL AND SCIENCE CAN SEEM

TO BE AS ALIEN TO EACH OTHER AS A FOOTBALLER AND A SCIENTIST. HOW MANY TIMES

HAVE TECHNICIANS UTTERED THE WORDS “FOOTBALL IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE”? BUT, IN RECENT

TIMES, THERE HAVE BEEN SIGNIFICANT SYMPTOMS OF COMPATIBILITY AND A DETECTABLE

TREND TOWARDS THE USE OF SCIENCE TO UNDERPIN FOOTBALLING QUALITIES.

CARLO ANCELOTTI

IN DISCUSSION WITH HIS ASSISTANT

AT CHELSEA, BRUNO DEMICHELIS

programmes based on specific require-ments in terms of, for example, physi-cal training loads, nutrition or psycho-logical preparation.

One of the salient features of the system is the predictive analysis serverdesigned to flag up psycho-physical parameters that may indicate risk of injury. The medical staff react immedi-ately by proposing measures to correctany anomalous values. At one point,AC Milan reported a 92% reduction innon-traumatic injuries and a dramaticdrop in the need for injections.

The potential benefits of such a sys-tem were underlined when Carlo An-celotti left the Italian club for ChelseaFC last summer – and took BrunoDemichelis to London with him. Bruno,having joined AC Milan’s backroomstaff in 1987, had worked with Carlo as a player and with technicians suchas Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello.

“My task is to act as scientific coordi-nator as I did in Milan,” he told theChelsea website when he arrived inLondon. “As a sports psychologist, myrole is to assist the coach in order tocoordinate all the activities that supportthe team and individual players to helpthem reach their highest performancelevels. At top, top level, the differencebetween winners and losers is some-times very, very small details: a hun-

The stars of AC Milan are closely monitoredby the MilanLab.

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dredth of a second or a few centime-tres. The key is therefore to be thor-oughly professional in every area and to be able to take decisions based onsolid data rather than personal opinion.”

The English media were quick to high-light the installation of a Milan-stylemind room at the Chelsea training cen-tre in Cobham and to underline its value at a club which had sustained psy-chological trauma, such as the penaltyshoot-out in the 2008 UEFA ChampionsLeague final in Moscow or last season’ssemi-final elimination by FC Barcelona.As part of their mental training, they reported, players were encouraged toconfront stressful moments rather thansweep them under the mental carpet.The same theme – and its relevance –were underscored during the recentUEFA Women’s National Team CoachesConference where, under the title of ‘A Winning Mindset’, the renowned ath-letics coach, Dr Frank Dick, explainedhow the preparation of medal-winningathletes such as Sebastian Coe, SteveOvett or Daley Thompson includedsome tough tests of mental resiliencebased on worst case scenarios. This was echoed by the English coach, HopePowell, when she revealed that the silver-medallists’ preparations had also

included high-stress scenarios, such as penalty shoot-outs or how to play 10 v 11. But that’s another story…

Going back to Milan and Chelsea, Carlo and Bruno arrived at StamfordBridge with the advantage of havingpreviously worked together. Other tech-nicians less versed in MilanLab princi-ples might, however, express a degreeof reticence based on territorial ques-tions. Some coaches might regard the ‘scientific’ input as intrusion or en-croachment, just as some technicianswonder what percentage of training sessions should best be conducted bythe fitness coach. To what extent, for example, should laboratory data be allowed to influence team selection?

At Chelsea, a club which had alreadymade significant progress along scien-tific paths before the arrival of Carlo and Bruno, this is where Mike Fordesteps in. As the club’s performance director, he represents a direct link withthe board of directors and, on a day-to-day basis he regards one of the im-portant areas of his job description asbeing to make sure that everything fitstogether, to allocate the right resourcesto the right places and to ensure thatCarlo and his backroom staff suffer no

encroachment on their coaching space.“The way Bruno fits in,” he explains, “is as one of three assistant managers,alongside Ray Wilkins and Paul Clement.In terms of piecing everything together,we’re talking about collating data fromaround 20 subdisciplines in physical,psychological, technical and tactical areas with a very concise objective ofhelping Carlo to get the best out of his players – and the players to get thebest out of themselves. At this particu-lar club, we’re talking about a group of 18 different nationalities, great cul-tural diversity and a workload of around60 games. The aim is to make surethat the players are technically, tacti-cally, mentally and physically prepared to cope with it.”

“Apart from preparing the squad for the present, we also have to projectinto the future,” he adds. “The currentsquad provides the benchmarks for future recruitment and we use scienceto make sure that we are assessingplayers in the right way. Science shouldbe integrated in the processes of foot-ball but we definitely never look to replace the art of it. The art of coaching,the art of playing, the emotions gen-erated – that is the heart of the gameand what makes it successful.”

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FRANK DICK, PRESIDENT OF THE

EUROPEAN ATHLETIC COACHES ASSOCIATION,

SPEAKING AT A UEFA CONFERENCE

Penalty kicks require good mentalpreparation.

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the president, Michel Platini, and general secretary, Gianni Infantino,teamed up with the technical director,Andy Roxburgh, to provide strongUEFA support to a committee whichfeatures 15 nationalities.

The agenda included an appraisal of penalty area incidents and debateon the triple-punishment scenariowhich can arise when a player is deemed to have committed a last-defender offence, which entails a penalty kick against his team, a redcard that leaves his side a man short,and an automatic suspension of at least one match. This type of inci-dent frequently raises questionsabout whether the punishment fitsthe crime.

Still in the penalty area, the commit-tee offered ‘so far so good’ support to the UEFA Europa League experi-ment with two additional pairs of eyeson the goal lines. Apart from helpingreferees to minimise errors, it was feltthat the mere presence of the extraofficial often acted as a deterrent

The first meeting of the restructuredcommittee – with seven new mem-bers – took place last November.Franz Beckenbauer was in the chair(helpfully, he is also chairman of FIFA’s equivalent committee), while

FOOTBALLINGQUESTIONS

AT UEFA, WHO DISCUSSES ISSUES RELATED TO FOOTBALL AND FORMULATES THE PROPOSALS

WHICH MAKE THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND, MAYBE, TOWARDS FIFA AND

THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD? ANNUAL GATHERINGS SUCH AS THE UEFA ELITE CLUB COACHES FORUM

PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR DEBATE ON PITCH-RELATED SUBJECTS. BUT THE UEFA BODY BRIEFED

TO DRAW UP RECOMMENDATIONS ON NATIONAL TEAM AND CLUB ISSUES, THE LAWS OF THE GAME,

PLAYER PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT, AND OTHER FOOTBALL-RELATED MATTERS WHICH

MIGHT HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE GAME IS THE UEFA FOOTBALL COMMITTEE.

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FRANZ BECKENBAUER,

WORLD CHAMPION IN 1974, WITH

COACH HELMUT SCHÖN

Like Franz Beckenbauer, who chairs the committee,Fernando Hierro (Real Madrid CF) lifted the European champion clubs’ trophy three times, with Real Madrid.

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within the game – from the peak right down to the grassroots.

Discussions also focused on issues related to the release of players to national teams – at youth levels aswell as on senior sides – and the importance of national team footballwith regard to representing national

style and identity. In an era when globalisation and migratory patterns areaffecting the composition of many national teams, the need for well-struc-tured player development and coacheducation programmes was regardedas an important element in terms of integrating diversity and maintainingand developing a national identitywhich inspires pride among the public.

But, apart from the topics which might appear on their agenda, thereare some interesting questions to be asked about the committee members themselves, whose terms of office run through to 2011:

● Which of them has won the WorldCup as player, captain and coach?

● Which of them has won the UEFAChampions League three times?

● Which of them won bronze medals at the 1974 and 1982World Cup finals?

● Which of them finished fourth in the 1994 finals?

● Which three of them were team-mates in the 1994 UEFAChampions League final?

● Which two of them were team-mates in the 1991 final?

● Which of them were opposing captains in a European Champion-ship final?

● Which of them was Michel Platini’steam-mate at AS Saint-Etienne?

● Which of them was the first playerto be champion of Europe with two different clubs?

● Which of the others completed the same ‘double’ in 1994?

And many more. Never has a UEFAcommittee raised so many footballingquestions…

to unfair manoeuvring and thereforehelped to improve players’ conduct inthe penalty area – especially in setplays. At the same time, ways of pro-actively encouraging players to behavein a professional manner and not deceive referees or opponents is an issue currently being carried forward in conjunction with other bodies

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THE UEFA FOOTBALL COMMITTEEChairman: Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)Deputy Chairman: Vitaly Mutko (Russia)

1st Vice-Chairman: Pavel Cebanu (Moldova)2nd Vice-Chairman: Dejan Savicevic (Montenegro)3rd Vice-Chairman: Grzegorz Lato (Poland)

Members: Demetrio Albertini (Italy) Revaz Arveladze (Georgia) Miodrag Belodedici (Romania) Zvonimir Boban (Croatia) Ivan Curkovic (Serbia) Fernando Hierro (Spain)Julius Kvedaras (Lithuania)Yordan Letchkov (Bulgaria)Anton Ondrus (Slovakia) Gordon Smith (Scotland)

THE UEFA PRESIDENT, MICHEL PLATINI,

IN CONVERSATION WITH TWO MEMBERS OF

THE COMMITTEE, IVAN CURKOVIC AND

DEMETRIO ALBERTINI,

DURING A MEETING IN NYON


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More evidence may emerge from theFIFA World Cup finals in South Africa.The draw in Cape Town signalled thestart of pre-tournament planning: thehotels, transport, training grounds, media arrangements, nutrition, medical facilities, use of leisure time, tickets forfamilies and a million other details whichbecome something of an obsession for coaches who, after a couple of yearsof seeing their players sporadically, suddenly have to manage the group forseveral weeks – and, in order to satisfytheir own and their players’ sportingambitions, the longer the better.

Over half of the coaches heading forSouth Africa are European. The 13who’ll be waving the UEFA banner will,barring late changes, be joined by fiveothers. France’s Paul Le Guen will beleading Cameroon into battle againstthe Dutch and the Danes in Group E,Vahid Halilhodzic from Bosnia-Herze-govina will be on the Ivory Coast benchagainst Brazilians, Portuguese and North Koreans, Portugal’s José Peseirois at the South Korean helm in Group B,and Serbia’s Milovan Rajevac (Ghana)will be taking on his compatriots, Ger-many and an Australian side led byDutch coach Pim Verbeek in a Group Dwhere all four technicians are European.

It may be asking a lot for Europe toprovide all four semi-finalists, as wasthe case in 2006, though Marcello Lippi and Raymond Domenech wouldundoubtedly settle for a rematch between Italy and France in the final.Significantly, they are the only twocoaches of European national teamsto double up at the 2006 and 2010World Cups. Even this is not an accu-rate gauge of longevity, as Marcellostepped down after victory in Ger-many and returned to the job in thesummer of 2008. On the other hand,Joachim Löw could also draw shadesof meaning, having started as No. 2 to Jürgen Klinsmann in August 2004and shared the bench with him duringGermany’s bronze-medal campaign in 2006.

So what is ‘experience’? Is it experi-ence in coaching? Or is it experienceacquired in the specific task of leadinga national team into a major tourna-ment?

In terms of coaching experience, themen at the helms of Europe’s 13 successful qualifiers amass enormousriches. Four of them – Fabio Capello,Vicente Del Bosque, Ottmar Hitzfeldand Marcello Lippi – have been

THE WORLD CUPEXPERIENCE

“EXPERIENCE IS CERTAINLY NOT A DISADVANTAGE,” SAID SIR ALEX FERGUSON ON THE EVE

OF LAST SEASON’S UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL IN ROME, WHERE HIS MANCHESTER UNITED

SIDE TOOK ON AN FC BARCELONA TEAM LED BY ‘ROOKIE’ COACH JOSEP GUARDIOLA, AN AVID

ADMIRER OF HIS SCOTTISH RIVAL, AT THE STADIO OLIMPICO. “HOW DOES HE FIND THE STAMINA

TO BE SO SUCCESSFUL FOR SO MANY YEARS?” ‘PEP’ OFTEN ASKS. THE RESULT IN ROME COULD

BE USED AS A CATALYST FOR DISCUSSION: HOW MUCH OF AN ADVANTAGE IS EXPERIENCE?

Morten Olsen, the longest serving of theEuropean coaches at the 2010 World Cup

OPPONENTS IN THE SAME QUALIFYING GROUP,

WITH SWITZERLAND AND GREECE RESPECTIVELY, AND BOTH

THROUGH TO THE FINAL ROUND, OTTMAR HITZFELD

AND OTTO REHHAGEL ARE HUGELY ACCOMPLISHED COACHES.Get

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UEFA Champions League winners and most of their track records makeextensive reading.

When the final tournament kicks off on 11 June, the average age amongthe coaches of the European teamswill be 58 years and 4 months. Curi-ously, the average is slightly misleadingin that only five are below it: Slovenia’sMatjaz Kek (48), Slovakia’s VladimirWeiss (the debutants’ head coach isthe youngest at 45), Germany’sJoachim Löw (50), Portugal’s CarlosQueiroz (57) and, marginally, theDutch head coach, Bert van Marwijk.Six of the other eight will have passedtheir 60th birthdays.

The trend away from recently retiredformer players raises a debating pointabout whether national association recruiters have been influenced by the profiles of recent gold medallists.Marcello Lippi was 58 when he liftedthe Jules Rimet trophy in 2006. Luís Aragonés was a few days short of his 70th birthday when the Spanishnational team won EURO 2008 in Vienna. And Otto Rehhagel was justabout to blow out 64 candles whenGreece became champions of Europein Lisbon in 2004.

Otto is also a front runner in terms of the other type of experience – theexperience acquired in a specific job.Having coached the Greek nationalteam since 2001, in terms of con-tinuity he is second only to MortenOlsen, who has been leading theDanish national team since 2000 andwhose World Cup coaching experi-ence dates back to the 2002 finals.Having taken the baton of the Frenchteam in July 2004, Raymond Dom-enech is third on the long-service list,while Joachim Löw, at the Germanhelm since July 2006, is fourth.

It means that a tenure of four yearshas been become an exception ratherthan a rule. Only 3 of the 13 coacheswho are heading for South Africa oc-cupied the same position as recentlyas EURO 2008. Apart from the fourlong-servers previously mentioned,Slovenia’s Matjaz Kek, appointed in2007, is the ‘senior citizen’. The othereight were appointed in 2008 – a statistic which underlines the trend towards relatively brief cycles of na-tional team management and, in con-sequence, a limited amount of spe-cific experience carried from one major event to another. Answers toquestions about how important this iswill be provided in a few months’time. In the meantime, we can onlycongratulate the European technicians

Vladimir Weiss, national coach of Slovakia, is in the unusual position of having his own son,and namesake, in his squad.

who came successfully through thequalification stages and wish themthe best of luck as they prepare totake on the rest of the world in SouthAfrica and, in most cases, enjoy a firsttaste of the World Cup experience.

ALL COACHES DREAM OF

EMULATING MARCELLO LIPPI AND

WINNING THE WORLD CUP.

Country Coach Since

Denmark Morten Olsen 2000England Fabio Capello 2008France Raymond Domenech 2004Germany Joachim Löw 2006Greece Otto Rehhagel 2001Italy Marcello Lippi 2008Netherlands Bert van Marwijk 2008Portugal Carlos Queiroz 2008Serbia Radomir Antic 2008Slovakia Vladimir Weiss 2008Slovenia Matjaz Kek 2007Spain Vicente Del Bosque 2008Switzerland Ottmar Hitzfeld 2008

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Detailed preparations began last Augustwith a course for 48 referees in the premier and second categories, plus 48 observers and International Boardinstructors. National associations wereinvited to name two extra officials forthree matches apiece during an experi-ment originally designed to cover the144 fixtures in the group phase of theUEFA Europa League. But at FIFA’s re-quest, testing has now been extended

REFEREEING MATTERS

THE 2009/10 SEASON IS HIGHLY ACTIVE ON THE REFEREEING FRONT,

WITH LARGE AMOUNTS OF SPACE ON THE SPORTS PAGES DEDICATED

TO THE EXPERIMENT WITH ADDITIONAL ASSISTANT REFEREES WHICH,

AS UEFA’S PRESIDENT, MICHEL PLATINI, HAS STATED, “OFFERS ADDITIONAL

HUMAN RESOURCES AND DIFFERENT ANGLES TO PROVIDE BETTER

COVERAGE OF INCIDENTS WHICH A SINGLE REFEREE MIGHT NOT SEE.”

IT’S PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE THAT THE UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE IS BEING

USED AS A TEST BED FOR THE FIVE-MAN TEAMS FEATURING TWO

GOAL-LINE OFFICIALS. BUT THE BEHIND-THE-GOAL-LINE ACTIVITY HAS

TO BE BACKED BY BEHIND-THE-SCENES ACTIVITY.

into the knockout rounds, going rightthrough to the final in Hamburg on 12 May and, in the meantime, feed-back from referees and observers isbeing collated by a central coordinatorbefore the IFAB makes a final decision.

One of the challenges is to maintainoptimal communication within a largerreferee team. And it will be interestingto ask whether an increased input of

information makes it more difficult for the referee to take instant deci-sions. Positional play has also beenreadjusted, with the referee no longerrunning the traditional diagonal but,with a view to forming a visual trianglewith the touchline and goal-line assis-tants, taking a more central position in the final third of the pitch – wherethere is a potentially higher risk of impeding play. Another factor to bear in mind is that, during the pilotscheme, referees have to switch between the traditional format for domestic games at weekends and theexperimental formula for a midweekgame in Europe. Time will tell…

But there has been more activity on the refereeing front. During thebuild-up to the European FutsalChampionship finals, a course for Category 1 referees was staged atItaly’s national training centre in Cover-ciano. Apart from DVD sessions, theofficials went through the new FIFA fitness tests designed specifically forthe indoor game, featuring 10-secondhigh-intensity yo-yo sprints along with agility exercises over a distanceof 40 metres. It has to be said thatthe outdoor refs who tried it found it quite tough… After the course, asquad of 16 was selected for the first12-team final tournament in Hungaryin January.

By that time, five applications to jointhe UEFA Referee Convention hadbeen put on the UEFA Executive Com-mittee agenda, with ratification ofCyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova andWales set to bring the total number of signatories to 30. As the remaining23 member associations are at vari-ous stages in the process of imple-menting the quality and organisationalcriteria, the target of completing thecircle by the end of the 2011/12 sea-son looks feasible. “We’ve passed the halfway mark in a very short period of time,” says UEFA’s head of refereeing, Yvan Cornu, “but there’sstill a long way to go. Let’s just saythat it’s a good achievement, but…”

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Fulham v CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Europa League, with an additional assistant referee officiating

THE ADDITIONAL REFEREES EXPERIMENT –

A TRIAL RUN IN AUGUST


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2 0 1 0

January 19 – 30● European Futsal Championship

2009/10 Final Round (Hungary)

February 2 – 4● Elite Referees Course (Malta)

February 7● EURO 2012 Draw (Warsaw)

February 9 – 11● 5th UEFA Medical Symposium

(Stockholm)

February 16● Start of the UEFA Champions

League 2009/10 knockout phase

February 18● Start of the UEFA Europa League

2009/10 knockout phase

April 13 – 16● 18th UEFA Course for Coach

Educators (Florence)

May 12● UEFA Europa League 2009/2010

Final (Hamburg)

May 18 – 30● European Under-17 Cham-

pionship 2009/10 – Final Tour-nament (Liechtenstein)

May 19● 1st UEFA Grassroots Day

(Madrid)

May 20● UEFA Women’s Champions

League Final (Madrid)

May 22● UEFA Champions League Final

(Madrid)

A G E N D A

T R A I N I N GR O U T I N E

BY WIM KOEVERMANSHigh Performance Director of the FA of IrelandSp

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The Overlap PracticeD R AW I N G 1● 8 players + 1 goalkeeper● After warming up, wing play +

finishing● A players rotate

B players in position● Demand for quality passing /

crossing and finishing● Half of full-size pitch● Other group of 8 + GK work

on other half of the pitch

D R AW I N G 3● 16 players + 2 GKs● Aim: wing play● Overlap fullbacks● Full-size pitch● Left v right wing

D R AW I N G 2● 4 players + GK : 4 players● Aim: wing play / overlap● 2 groups of 8 work on half

of the pitch


UEFARoute de Genève 46CH-1260 NyonSwitzerlandPhone +41 848 00 27 27Fax +41 22 707 27 34uefa.com

Union des associationseuropéennes de football


The Technician N°45•E :Anglais 11.1.2010 15:16 …...the fans, the lifeblood of professional...

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Transcript of The Technician N°45•E :Anglais 11.1.2010 15:16 …...the fans, the lifeblood of professional...