Talent, Football Analytics and Performance

Every talented player should be given the best chance to succeed. FIFA’s new Talent Development Programme aims to do exactly that.

Football is the most widely played sport in the world, yet relatively few countries have established pathways for young players to make the step up to a professional career. FIFA’s new project aims to share knowledge from the most experienced coaches to assist every member association worldwide in devising its own talent development scheme, not just to help along the stars of the future, but to improve every player’s game at all levels.

Levelling the playing field

One of the key aims will be to share the recipes for success from established academies to raise standards right across the football world. Throughout 2020, a global ecosystem analysis is taking place to learn more about how talent is developed around the world: how are players scouted? What is their pathway to the professional game? What do the best technical structures look like? How can information that helps everyone be shared globally?

Once the research is complete, a worldwide support programme will be rolled out for each member association that has taken part in the analysis. Specific plans will be developed in cooperation with each association involved to find the best solution in key areas. Everyone will be entitled to benefit from FIFA’s assessment of national teams, domestic leagues, scouting projects and academies in both men’s and women’s football. 

Expert oversight

The work will be overseen by FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, Arsène Wenger, who launched the programme, saying: “Our goal is very ambitious, but we are highly motivated and focused. Nowadays, information can be made available and used all over the world within seconds. It’s a huge opportunity.”

The former Arsenal coach is famed for developing young players and sees a clear link between football development at an early age and the subsequent success of national teams. “In many countries, the focus of the association is mainly on the senior national team, but this national team is always the consequence of football development across the country. We need more youth competitions to identify talent, offer them a pathway and develop coaching.”

Wenger stresses that a long-term approach involving “dedication, confidence and patience” is required: “We will get a good overview of what is needed everywhere in both men’s and women’s football, and then we will respond both online and offline with a team of experts to help develop football to the highest level and to have a lasting impact.”

Learning from the best

The programme ultimately aims to address the widening disparity in technical quality between Europe and the rest of the world by sharing best practice and offering insight into how member associations can develop their own talent.

There is much insight to be gained from experienced academies in South America, such as rivals Santos and São Paulo in Brazil. In Europe, Barcelona and Manchester United have produced Champions League-winning teams with home-grown talent, while Ajax are famous above all for the high-profile stars that have come through their academy.

In Africa, Algerian club Paradou overcame the challenges of having a small budget by focusing on talent development to become one of the top exporters of players to other countries while having their own success along the way.

Research, analysis, results

Among the other pillars of the programme is the development of home-grown coach educators and technical directors, as well as specialised courses for areas such as goalkeeping, futsal and beach soccer. The work will focus around courses, workshops and individual mentorships.

High-performance expert and FIFA Women’s World Cup™-winning coach April Heinrichs says: “The FIFA Talent Development Programme is going to be impactful because it’s a really targeted project. First, we will spend this year analysing, observing, watching and listening to all the associations to see what their strengths and challenges are. Then we’ll bring this wealth of information together and make recommendations. This will be the end of the analysis and the start of action.”

Another high-performance expert supporting the project, former England national-team coach Steve McClaren, explains that developing talent is based on three key things: “Finding the talent, creating an environment in which the footballer can flourish and, most importantly, coaching. With the FIFA Talent Development Programme, we will know exactly what each country is doing in terms of developing their players. Research, yes. Analysis, yes. Results, of course. And then feeding back to the nations to help them grow and improve their level of play.”

A unique opportunity

FIFA Technical Director Steven Martens highlights how the national associations stand to benefit: “The programme is a unique opportunity for each member association to gauge its high-performance environment, including its senior and youth national teams for men and women. FIFA is therefore encouraging all member associations to participate in the programme so that every talent gets a chance and we can help to close the gap at the top of the game.”