The Futuro III Administration and Management Refresher Course concluded in Auckland on Thursday with course participants more than happy with the efforts of FIFA Instructors Juerg Nepfer, Lionel Haven and Nicos Kartakoullis.
American Samoa’s Finance and Administration Officer, Tevita Taumua, described the course as “invaluable”.
“It’s been a very good group of people to work with. Marketing is a very new concept for us and the Futuro III course has shown the course participants how to apply these ideas to improving our associations as a business.”
FIFA Instructor Nicos Kartakoullis said the theories and ideas introduced at the course were obviously new to many course participants but he was hopeful OFC members would take up the challenge in front of them.
“Of course the OFC can be very successful with these principles and concepts. For example, in CAF (Confederation of African Football), in some cases, they have even less infrastructure and resources to work with. I am hopeful that we have empowered course participants to at least try to apply these ideas. If they try and it doesn’t work, that is ok, but making the effort is still important.”
Nicos Kartakoullis pointed to other examples of island nations that experienced relative success despite similar challenges.
“Cyprus is a good case in point. It is an island nation with limited resources but recently they have taken on board seven sponsors. On the pitch, too, Cyprus has experienced good success against Germany and Ireland. So it can be done.”
Juerg Nepfer echoed these sentiments.
“I think compared to one year ago this course has seen a much higher level of understanding amongst course participants. We developed many of our concepts further and now there is an opportunity for MAs within the OFC to perform in these key administration and management areas.”
Nepfer added that the course struck the right balance between classroom activity and leisure activity that created an atmosphere conducive to learning.
“There is a lot of material to get through in an intensive course. We covered everything we wanted too and balanced it out with some football and a barbeque that helped build a team atmosphere. There was time to relax, but not too much time to relax!”
Nepfer said it was challenging delivering material to such wide ranging levels of ability.
“Now it depends on the course participants to take this information forward and to find the next steps for their associations. FIFA and OFC are here to help, of course,
Papua New Guinea General Secretary Dimirit Mileng said the course had been very useful.
“We talk about the professionalisation of how football is played. But we do not often discuss professionalisation of football as a product or business. This course has changed my perspective on how to manage football in this regard and I feel I have gained many benefits from my attendance.”
FIFA Development Officer Glenn Turner described the MAs as part of a wider family.
“OFC is a football family; we are here to work hard, here to have fun; and we have achieved a lot of good quality work through the duration of this refresher course. We’re lucky to have achieved such a lot in a hospitable and friendly atmosphere.”