A group of top footballers and coaches from six continents is joining FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger this week as part of the ongoing consultation process on the future of global football.
The group is part of a new Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on the future of men’s football, which is providing FIFA with direct insight and experiences from professional footballers and coaches from across the spectrum of the international game with an aggregate of over 3,000 international appearances and more than 300 FIFA World Cup matches between them, in order to discuss potential alternatives to the current organisation of the men’s game with an emphasis on making football truly global and giving every talent and every region a chance.
Those assembling in person in Doha, Qatar, for a two-day exchange include Ali Al-Habsi (Oman), Emmanuel Amuneke (Nigeria), Jared Borgetti (Mexico), Tim Cahill (Australia), Youri Djorkaeff (France), Avram Grant (Israel), Sami Khedira (Germany), Alexi Lalas (USA), Marco Materazzi (Italy), Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand), Nuno Gomes (Portugal), Roberto Carlos (Brazil), Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima (Brazil), Mikaël Silvestre (France), Peter Schmeichel (Denmark), David Suazo (Honduras), David Trezeguet (France) and Pablo Zabaleta (Argentina). Other members of the TAG on men’s football include Sami Al-Jaber (Saudi Arabia), Alessandro Altobelli (Italy), Iván Córdoba (Colombia), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Gelson Fernandes (Switzerland), Geremi Njitap (Cameroon), Mustapha Hadji (Morocco), Keisuke Honda (Japan), Júlio César (Brazil), Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany), Javier Mascherano (Argentina), Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Faryd Mondragón (Colombia), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Michael Owen (England), John Terry (England), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Antonio Valencia (Ecuador) and Javier Zanetti (Argentina). Additional players and coaches will be included during the consultation process. So far, more than 80 current and former players and coaches have been consulted.
In line with decisions made at this year’s FIFA Congress, FIFA is conducting a wide-ranging consultation across football in order to reflect on the future of global football and assess options for changes to the international match calendars. Further meetings with other stakeholder groups, together with other assessments in relation to the future direction of women’s and youth football, are also planned, and in parallel, a study is being conducted on a range of aspects related to football competitions. A Technical Advisory Group on the future of women’s football has been created and will be led by the double FIFA Women’s World Cup-winning coach Jill Ellis.
Media activities
The two-day meeting will be followed by a virtual press conference on Thursday, 9 September at 14:00 (Doha time) to provide further details on this consultation process and share some of the current findings.
The process for media to register for the online press conference (https://bit.ly/3jO5YEo) is now open.
The deadline for media to submit their registration is 12:00 (Doha time) on Wednesday, 8 September 2021.
All registrations are subject to a review process by FIFA, and successful applicants will be notified by email. Only approved media will be able to participate virtually in the question-and-answer session during the online press conference.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of FIFA.
For further information, please contact the FIFA Media Department at media@fifa.org.
