Football administrators get tools to better develop football |13 August 2016

When we talk about football it is most often the guys on the pitch who capture our attention the most. Whether it’s the players themselves, the coaches, officials and even the fans. But there are areas of a football club that are largely ignored by the press and the majority of football fans.

So often we have seen popular football teams, especially in major European leagues, suffer from poor management, leading to either their demotion and sometimes even their shutdown altogether. Examples include Leeds United, Portsmouth, Fiorentina and most recently Parma.

Proper management and administration is therefore very important for every football club and thus the reason a football administration course was recently held by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) with the aid of the International Football Federation (Fifa).

The course which began on Monday, ended with a certificate presentation ceremony after which the Fifa instructor, Jacques Malie, said he was very satisfied with the club managers who attended the course as they now have a clear idea of where they stand, where they need to go and how to get there.

“You can have a lot of money, all the equipment and great facilities, but without proper management and administration, it will all amount to nothing,” said Mr Malie.

Mr Malie told Sports Nation he believes Seychelles has the right tools to be able to have properly ran clubs, but clearly defined roles within each club is important and is needed for success.

“We often talk about taking football to a professional level and most of us think that it is just about paying the players and coaches,” he said, adding that “before all that, everyone within the club needs to be professional in the way they do things and be dedicated to what they are doing. They need to have a professional mind-set first.”

During the closing ceremony, about 15 football administrators received their certificates in the presence of SFF chairman Elvis Chetty, who expressed his gratitude to Fifa for enabling this course and to Mr Malie for delivering it.

“Administration is key to the smooth running of any successful business and organisation and therefore good planning and leadership skills are needed to help take not only the clubs, but the SFF forward and developing Seychelles football,” said Mr Chetty.

It is hoped that those who attended the course will be able to pass on their knowledge to others, so that our local teams can keep growing and maybe one day with good management, we can have the very first professional football club in Seychelles.

S. N.