QFA’s Secy-Gen Al Ansari attends FIFA’s Online Summit

Tribune News Network DOHA Mansoor Al Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Football Association (QFA), participated in the online session of the first ‘FI...

Tribune News NetworkDOHAMansoor Al Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Football Association (QFA), participated in the online session of the first ‘FIFA Consultation Summit on the Future of Football’.Al Ansari joined representatives of all 211 member associations under FIFA. The 32 members of the FIFA Council, were also in attendance as was FIFA President Gianni Infantino.The FIFA administration launched its project with preliminary technical analysis and consultations – a process that will continue until December 2021 – to gather opinions from respected football players and coaches from every continent.The summit, which included detailed presentations from FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger and two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winning coach Jill Ellis, who has assumed the role of FIFA Technical Advisory Group leader for women’s football, provided the platform for FIFA member associations to share their views as part of the ongoing consultation in relation to the future IMCFIFA President Infantino set the ball rolling for the two-phased consultation process starting with football players and coaches. The second phase will see member associations and stakeholders, especially fans, also joining in the debate. A comprehensive report will be published in November 2021 before a global summit is held before the end of this year.Wenger outlined his proposals in relation to the men’s international match calendar, stressing his desire to make football better.“It is an audacious proposal for the future of men’s football, and it follows four main principles, namely regrouping national team qualifying matches, reducing travel for players, creating more space for meaningful matches and final tournaments, and ensuring a mandatory rest period for players between seasons,” the FIFA Chief of Global Football Development said.“Challenges with the right mindset can create opportunities,” said Jill Ellis, who presented her vision in relation to the potential redevelopment of the women’s international match calendar.“We have issues in both national team football and club football that require substantial change. Our focus is on providing more balanced playing opportunities at national team level across the world, and to find better solutions in moving club football forward. Therefore, included in our proposed solution would be the opportunity to change the frequency of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and continental tournaments in order to create a much bigger platform for women’s football.”Wenger outlined two proposals for the future of FIFA youth competitions with a standard approach to tournaments for boys and girls. The first option includes an annual U-17 tournament for 48 teams and a biennial U-20 tournament for 24 teams, while the second option takes into account the scheduling of the U-16 tournaments and U-18 annual tournament for 48 teams, and biennial U-20 tournament for 24 teams.On the other hand, Al Ansari, the Secretary General of QFA, participated in the fourth meeting of the AFC Finance Committee – as a member of the committee – which was held virtually via video technology. The meeting was chaired by Mariano Araneta Jr, with the participation of all members of the Committee.The minutes of the third meeting held on March 31, 2020, were approved, and the agenda of the fourth meeting was reviewed, in which the support of national federations was emphasized, and during which the budget for the year 2022 was approved.