UEFA football and fitness seminar

UEFA holds its third Fitness for Football pilot seminar in Baku, Azerbaijan this week, in which representatives from 16 European national associations will look at the relationship between fitness and the development of football skills.

Two seminars have already taken place, in Oslo and Istanbul last year. The event is organised within UEFA's coach education programme, and European coach education leaders, as well as fitness and medical experts, will be holding in-depth discussions on how football training and fitness training can be linked for players' maximum benefit.

The associations of Andorra, Belarus, Belgium, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Gibraltar, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Russia, San Marino and Ukraine will be travelling to Azerbaijan to take part in the seminar.

UEFA is aware that specialist coaches are becoming increasingly important to football. The UEFA Jira Panel, the group of experienced technical experts who monitor coaching and coach education developments, has studied the issue of fitness specialists with the UEFA member associations and found that concepts vary greatly from association to association.

Europe's national associations have provided UEFA with feedback and invaluable information, and the European body will again be highlighting the latest developments in this area, while raising awareness of the need for balanced football-specific fitness training aimed at helping footballers perform to their peak and supporting injury prevention. Group discussions, mini-workshops and brainstorming sessions will all cover the various aspects of fitness and football.

The seminar promotes dialogue between coach educators and fitness experts, and is designed to help the associations upgrade relevant fitness elements at various coach education levels. The event will ask how fitness training can be united with skills and teamwork training, and to what extent football activities can address physical needs.