FIFA workshop a major boost to regional associations

General secretaries and technical directors from CONCACAF and CONMEBOL have been upgrading their skills during an ongoing FIFA Technical Leadership Introductory Workshop, which is taking place from January 12–16 at the Courtyard by Marriott in Barbados.

With a strong focus on collaboration, it forms part of FIFA’s continued push to upskill administrators and leaders in the region.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY on the sidelines, the Barbados Football Association’s general secretary, Nicholas Branker described the workshop as a fantastic opportunity.

“Kudos to my team and thank you very much to FIFA for choosing Barbados to do this event. We have the likes of Argentina who are the World Cup champions, along with Brazil and Chile, so we have some really large footballing nations attending and I’m really happy that we can do it here in Barbados,” Branker said.

Branker, who only assumed duties last October, believes the workshop will be hugely beneficial.

“It’s been wonderful to speak to some of the general secretaries from around the world, and as I said, not only in the Caribbean, but to see how as such successful football nations, what they prioritize, what are some of the issues that they have, so we can learn from them and also to make contact with them and rub shoulders with them in an effort to continue this relationship,” he said.

According to Branker, while federations and associations around the Caribbean have a number of similar challenges, each country is unique .

“Funding is a big one for us and also because we are such small nations but yet so diverse, it’s really critical to see how some of them have similar challenges but also very different challenges. I believe that some of them also have a lot more funding from the government side of it and I think that’s something that we here in Barbados need to work on, heavily,” he pointed out.

Branker says members of the small associations are keen to learn from the instructors, as well as their more advanced counterparts during the event.

“It’s been wonderful to see again what some of the larger nations are doing, see what they’ve done in the past to get their football developed and look at some of the areas they’re looking at right now. 

“I think the networking aspect speaks volumes, but also for FIFA to choose a small nation like Barbados to hold such an important international conference has been really good,” Branker said.