(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: The Qatar football Association (QFA) and the Aspire Sports Excellence Academy yesterday signed a cooperation agreement at the QFA's Al Bidda Tower headquarters.
The two organizations hope to advance the coaching education system and increase their collective expertise through the partnership.
QFA Secretary General Mansour Al Ansari and Director General of the Aspire Academy Ivan Bravo signed the agreement in the presence of QFA Director of Football Development Department Fahd Thani and Director of Performance Development and Football Sciences at the Academy Professor Valter De Salvo.
Supporting and facilitating joint cooperation between The two parties and determining the framework for co-operation, the agreement hopes to significantly broaden the circle of knowledge that contributes to achieving the desired goals and invest in the expertise and capabilities available between the two parties to develop Qatari football.
The two parties have come to an agreement whereby the Qatar Football Association will host coaching clinics and the Aspire Academy will provide expertise in areas such as football players' physical fitness, psychology, physiology, nutrition, hospitalization, and physiotherapy.
Marking the occasion, Fahd Thani said:“We at the Qatar Football Association seek to prepare and qualify coaches and raise the level of training programs in clubs by spreading the culture of playing football throughout Qatar, and supporting partnership projects with institutions with common goals to improve the technical level of grassroots players in the country, while crafting strategies for long-term sustainability”.
He continued,“The cooperation agreement with Aspire Academy is one of the essential agreements that is central to the work plans of the Football Development Department and its continual endeavour to constantly enhance and modernize the football system in local clubs. Through these efforts, the department hopes to forge lasting alliances with a wide range of relevant local organizations.
According to Thani:“The importance of the agreement is that it includes several provisions, perhaps the most important of which is the exchange of knowledge and experiences.”
“Aspire Academy is the best place to learn about football player fitness, psychology, kinesiology, nutrition, recuperation, physiology, and more because they foon the science of sports. We aim to incorporate these subfields, as they provide a foundation for developing professionals' knowledge and are fundamental to the programs' utility.”
Importantly, in November 2019, the Asian Football Confederation gave its stamp of approval to the Qatar Football Association's coach education program all the way up to the“Pro Diploma” level.
Only Japan, China, and Qatar are recognized as authorized to grant coaching certifications in Asia. To this day, Qatar is the only Arab country with professional-level accreditation from the AFC.