Turkish Football Federation President Mehmet Büyükekşi: “With the cooperation protocol we will sign, we will provide football education to our children in primary and secondary schools under the coordination of both ministries. With our project, we want to reach 100,000 children in the 100th year of our Republic.”
Football Development Project Cooperation Protocol was signed between the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).
Minister of National Education Yusuf Tekin, Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak, TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi, TFF managers, guests and press members attended the signing ceremony held at TFF Riva Hasan Doğan National Teams Camp and Training Facilities.
Making the opening speech, TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi said, “We have been working on a very important project with our Ministry of Youth and Sports and our Ministry of National Education for a long time. We completed it in a short time with the valuable support of our esteemed ministers. Today, we will sign the football development project cooperation protocol in your presence. We are happy and proud. “We have undertaken very important work for the development of Turkish football since the first day we took office. We will continue our work to achieve sustainable success.” he said.
Stating that Turkey is the country with the youngest population in Europe, Büyükekşi continued his words as follows:
“The development of our football depends on us using our own resources effectively and correctly. We believe that Turkish football will make a significant breakthrough in the new century with the world stars it will raise from its own resources. For this, we need to create a permanent, stable and sustainable ecosystem. The first step in establishing this ecosystem is a strong infrastructure. In this sense, we planted the first seed in the ground with our football academies project. We obliged our Super League clubs to establish an academy. All Super League teams must establish an academy by the end of 2024. We have started to train our coaches in this field. Currently, there are 2 coaches for ages 6-9. 11 people are being trained, including 2 coaches for ages 9-13, 3 coaches for ages 14-17, 3 coaches for ages 17-19, and 1 director. We have 20 teams and we train a total of 220 people. We will be training in April. We, as TFF, will cover the salaries of the coaches for 6 months. Next year, we will impose an academy obligation for the 1st League. Of course, these studies are not something that will happen from today to tomorrow. We throw a seed into the ground. With our football academy project becoming fully operational, both our clubs and national teams will gain great benefits. “Hopefully, we will plant the second seed in the ground today, with the cooperation we will make with our Ministry of National Education and our Ministry of Youth and Sports.”
Stating that they examined the infrastructures in Europe and saw that children started their football training at the age of 6, Mayor Büyükekşi said, “In addition, this training is carried out in an organized manner with the cooperation of clubs and schools in Europe. With the cooperation protocol we will sign, we will provide our children in primary and secondary schools with the coordination of both ministries.” We will provide football training. With our project, we want to reach 100,000 children in the 100th year of our Republic. Of course, for this, first of all, we need to train our teachers who will give football training to these children. Our goal is to select approximately 20 schools in each province that meet the criteria. We will provide first stage coaching training to our teachers in around 300 schools in total. Here, we plan to provide coaching training to 3000-3500 classroom teachers in primary schools and 2500-3000 physical education teachers in secondary schools. We will provide training to our primary school teachers within the framework of the ‘Volunteer leadership coach training’ program, which is the lowest stage of coach training. “We will provide training in the field of football expertise to our physical education teachers working in secondary schools,” he said.
“WE WILL GIVE DIPLOMA TO OUR TEACHERS WHO RECEIVED COACHING TRAINING”
Stating that the training will be carried out face to face and online, Büyükekşi said, “We will give diplomas to our teachers who receive coaching training. With this project that we will initiate in primary education, we will provide our children with football culture at a young age in schools. In addition, we aim to provide a more systematic structure for the transition of our football students from school to clubs. In addition, , we want special studies to be carried out for the football branch in sports high schools. We plan to increase the number of football-themed sports high schools and sports high schools with football as a side branch through joint development studies. We went to the Netherlands and Belgium within the scope of football academies. There, the children in the football academies of the clubs spend 4 days a week “We saw that they spent double training and one day playing a match. In this way, they get a very good education and take a big step towards becoming football players without leaving their school behind.” made his assessment.
“With this cooperation project, we want to ensure that talented athletes in the infrastructure of the clubs can participate more in club training within the scope of parental permission.” Büyükekşi said:
“In this sense, our Ministry of National Education is making the necessary arrangements in the relevant legislation. It is increasing the periods for students’ exemptions. Our protocol will not be limited to what we have stated verbally here. We will constantly follow the development. We will be able to constantly expand the scope of the projects with the consultations we will make with both ministries. We will be able to put forward new projects. We aim to produce world-class stars by blending our children, who will be raised both with the football development project and from football academies, with discipline and love. We will make these seeds we plant in the ground grow with patience, compassion and care. We believe that our children and young people, whom we will raise at a young age with correct and quality education, will be the locomotive of Turkish football. This “I wholeheartedly believe that all stakeholders of our football will make the necessary contributions for valuable projects to achieve their goals. I hope that our cooperation protocol, which will be a turning point in our football, will be beneficial. I would like to thank our esteemed ministers and all relevant bureaucrats who always support us, in your presence.”