Blažević and Kovač among guest speakers at AEFCA Congress

For the second time, Croatian Football Federation will host the AEFCA Congress. From 9 to 12 December, numerous European coaches in Zagreb will attend lectures of international and local experts. The Congress will be greeted by Ministry of Sports representative Tomislav Paškvalin, as well as the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Zlatko Mateša.

Croatia national team head coach Niko Kovač and his coaching staff will be guests at panel discussion at the beginning of the Congress, that is to end in a similar fashion, with conversations with well-known coaches, including Miroslav Ćiro Blažević, Otto Barić and Stanko Poklepović.

FIFA and UEFA instructor Gerard Houllier will be one of the lecturers, while chief scout of German Football Federation (DFB) Bernd Stöber and Finland national team head coach Mika Paatelainen will also share their knowledge and experience. Croatia U-17 and GNK Dinamo Zagreb U-15 will hold pilot training sessions.

"We are looking forward to welcoming 150 coaches from the whole world, yet we are at the same time obliged to fulfill their expectations. The Congress is generally divided to local and international parts. In the local part, we will have a couple of theoretical and a couple of practical lectures, to summarize the requirements and general direction of coaching staff's future development. There is exceptional interest among local coaches to attend this Congress, which only confirms how important football is as a strategy. This makes us responsible for optimal investments and planning of further steps", said HNS technical director Romeo Jozak.

All former Croatia head coaches have been invited, as well as MAXtv First Division coaches, second division coaches and heads of youth development, UEFA PRO coaches and other guests.

The application process is still open to coaches with UEFA B coaching licence. Only applications fulfilling this requirement will be considered. Participation fee is set at HRK 300, and includes the Europa League match Dinamo - Celtic together with meals in breaks between the lectures and other activities.

Candidates can apply via e-mail at [email protected]. The application must include first name and last name, copy of education certificate, phone number and e-mail address. The number of seats is limited, and applications will be considered on first come, first served basis.

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