Oleg Blokhin: “The foundation of success of the national team - in youth football”

27.02.2019 11:14

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

One of the heads of the FFU Football Strategic Development Council, Oleg Blokhin, took part in the DUFLU conference held at the Football House.

"It is clear that without quality work in children's and youth football we can only dream of the success of the national team. Therefore, I would like to thank the leaders of DUFLU, coaches who work in children's and youth football, for your work! This work does not always receive a decent reward. But, as you know, FFU is working on a mechanism for paying schools and coaches for quality training of players. I also like the approach that FFU is currently implementing - it is about building quality venues and abandoning the mandatory solution of tournament tasks in competitions for the youngest players. This is a European approach - children should enjoy football, not pumped by a coach, whose success we evaluated not by the quality of trained players, but by the number of cups won in children's tournaments.

I want to address the audience with such a request - let's help our children know the history of Ukrainian football! We have something to be proud of! We have three players at once became the owners of the "Golden Ball". Not every country can boast of such achievements. But recently I was at a children's tournament among eight-year-old players. He asked who I was, and none of the boys answered. Although their parents approached, they asked for a photo and an autograph. Even when I made the task easier for the children and asked who Andriy Shevchenko was, not everyone could answer. But they told me a lot about Messi and Ronaldo. So let's all think about how to make children know the football history of our country. I repeat, we have something and someone to be proud of, and we cannot forget our history!

But remembering the past, you need to think about the future. And, I repeat, I like what the federation is doing now for the development of children's and youth football. I, in turn, will help as much as I can, "Oleg Blokhin said, addressing the DUFL conference participants.