handbook for Technical Directors
fifa_td_2016_e_low_neutral
fifa_td_2016_e_low_neutral
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The position of the technical director within the member association / 2<br />
17<br />
clubs and coaches in domains related to<br />
nutrition, injury prevention and medical<br />
tests <strong>for</strong> players<br />
Marketing<br />
The department that manages marketing<br />
is fundamental in producing the revenue<br />
that can fund development activities<br />
and tournaments (sponsoring/marketing/<br />
ticketing/income generation) and in<br />
projecting a positive image of the<br />
association among the general population<br />
(media, social media, website, etc.).<br />
In terms of marketing, development<br />
activities might represent a clear asset<br />
because they concern age categories that<br />
are associated with certain products that<br />
target the youth, or future consumers in<br />
general. An association that is particularly<br />
active in grassroots and youth football<br />
might have a higher chance to sign a<br />
sponsorship contract with a company<br />
that relies heavily on young people <strong>for</strong><br />
its business. These synergies must be<br />
explored and discussed between the<br />
technical director and the person in<br />
charge of marketing and inputs from<br />
both sides should be taken into account<br />
to shape activities that satisfy both the<br />
need <strong>for</strong> football development and<br />
the requirements to sell the product to<br />
sponsors.<br />
Example<br />
Copa Coca-Cola<br />
The Copa Coca-Cola (U-15 or U-17)<br />
takes place in many countries<br />
worldwide. It is financed by Coca-Cola<br />
and supported by the central and local<br />
governments. It usually involves the<br />
whole country, starting at community<br />
and regional level. The best teams<br />
(youth elite) qualify <strong>for</strong> the district<br />
tournaments and then <strong>for</strong> the regional<br />
tournaments. When it reaches national<br />
level, the football association usually<br />
takes charge with the organisation of<br />
coaching and refereeing courses as<br />
well as assistance <strong>for</strong> the organisation<br />
of the final event. The objectives<br />
are multi-folded, particularly<br />
the development of mass youth<br />
football and detection of talents.<br />
www.copa.coca-cola.com<br />
Communications<br />
From a communications perspective,<br />
development activities are a definite asset.<br />
They enable the association to be visible in<br />
the periods where the national teams are<br />
not active or during the league’s breaks.<br />
Moreover, development activities such as<br />
grassroots, courses or training camps <strong>for</strong><br />
young talents are events that can be fully<br />
controlled by the association and do not<br />
present any element of surprise or risk, like<br />
– <strong>for</strong> instance – the results of the national<br />
team.<br />
The technical director must develop good<br />
awareness of how his work is perceived<br />
by the general public and be aware of<br />
the positive outcomes that it can bring<br />
to the good image of the association. He<br />
must be implicated in the definition of<br />
the association’s communication approach<br />
<strong>for</strong> development activities. In addition,<br />
the technical director must provide the<br />
communications staff with relevant<br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation, good quality pictures or video<br />
footage <strong>for</strong> the production of articles or<br />
posts on the web and/or Facebook page.<br />
Finance and administration<br />
As part of the general secretariat,<br />
the technical director is bound by the<br />
general rules that apply to all employees,<br />
particularly the employee regulations<br />
and the financial procedures. As a head<br />
of department, the technical director has<br />
responsibilities related to human resources<br />
(recruitment, definition and revision of job<br />
descriptions, annual appraisals, sanctions,<br />
etc.) as well as in how money is spent (cost<br />
centres). Part 3 and Section 3.2 concern the<br />
management functions of the technical<br />
director and will provide guidance on the<br />
shared responsibilities concerning the<br />
recruitment of staff.<br />
One of the domains in which<br />
cooperation with the head of finance<br />
and administration is stronger is the<br />
preparation of the annual budget, because<br />
the technical department is typically<br />
associated with important investments<br />
by the association. We will analyse the<br />
contribution of the technical director to the<br />
annual budget exercise in Section 3.3.