12 QUALITY AREAS
The working processes
7
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
connected with the Strategic Importance Quality Area include:
Does your academy have a formalised football philosophy in place?
Do you have a youth academy?
Where does the Academy Director sit in the club structure? Are they a strategy creator, developer or implementer?
S trategic Importance is crucial to an academy system because it ensures that the academy itself and the youth development process are both treated as significant matters within the overall club structure. A youth academy is often the largest department within a football club in terms of personnel involved, but it can often sit on the periphery of the organisation. It is therefore
How long has this philosophy been implemented at your club?
important for both the academy and club leadership to take the necessary steps to ensure academies are kept under the spotlight, not under the radar. Of course, it can sometimes be beneficial for an academy to keep a certain distance: letting coaches do their own thing has, in the past, for some clubs, led to fantastic results; think La Masia in the 1990s and 2000s. But generally, if we are to believe that academies are critical for their clubs, it makes sense for them to be a major part of the strategic conversation. For this to happen, club leaders need to
Is this style of play connected with any research on your club Does the same style of play apply to all categories? (application of principles of football, not tactical system like 4-4-2)
Was this style of play the result of a formal research and development, or spontaneous?
Are there any individual development goals formally set for players?
community’s preferences?
learn to understand the language of youth development, and academy leaders need to understand the workings of corporate management. One of the fundamental challenges for academies to be heard at senior club level is the positioning of academy leaders within the club's hierarchy. The more lines of command between the academy director and the top management can create difficulties when it comes to decision making. The quality of an academy’s Strategic Importance efforts link to the positioning of the academy within the club hierarchy. They can be assessed by the presence of academy leaders within a club 's key decision-making and strategy setting bodies, and their regular participation in strategic planning and decision making.
“Players are increasingly choosing development clubs at youth level rather than size”
Do you have a coaching methodology department in the organisational structure?
Does your club have a
Tahir Karapinar, Fenerbahçe SK
Do you plan ahead for more than four years at your youth academy?
fundamental goal of strongly relying on the academy for sourcing its first team players?
Do you have a formal organogram of youth academy?
Do you have your own budget for youth academy?
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YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
YOUTH FOOTBALL 2021-23
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