Earlier this month one of the most respected figures in world football set foot into Australia with a brief from Australian Soccer Association Chairman Mr Frank Lowy, to look at and make recommendations on the high performance structures within the sport in this country.
Earlier this month one of the most respected figures in world football set foot into Australia with a brief from Australian Soccer Association Chairman Mr Frank Lowy, to look at and make recommendations on the high performance structures within the sport in this country.
Mr Lowy and the new Board of ASA viewed this area as a high priority and the task required someone with vast experience in the game. In Dr Jozef Venglos (pictured right), he not only got one of the most highly qualified technical advisers in the game, but a man who has a strong connection with Australia and the game in this country.
Australia is where Dr Venglos- coaching career started in 1966 after finishing his playing career with top Czechoslovakian club SK Slovan Bratislava. His three years in Australia even saw him coach the Socceroos in matches against Scotland and Greece.
“Firstly, I am very, very happy that I am back at a nice and much loved country that Australia is,” he said when asked about his return to Australia.
“This is where I started my coaching career and where I have a lot of good friends and friendships still now.”
His initial role in Australia was with top NSW State League side Prague Sydney, but his talents quickly saw him coach of NSW and then in 1967 with the Socceroos. His involvement with all these teams meant he made many great friendships and they continued after he left.
“After I left in 1969, I stayed in touch with many of the players like Les Scheinflug, Raul Blanco, Johnny Warren, Ray Baartz, Manfred Schaeffer and many others. Later on many of these players played at the World Cup in 1974, which was very interesting and good for Australian soccer.”
His interest in Australian soccer has never waned since then and that interest saw him sign one our current stars when he was head coach of Glasgow Celtic.
“I had a very good experience with one gentleman, a top player, an excellent boy and I like him very much - Mark Viduka. When I was head coach of Celtic Glasgow I signed him to be a player with the club and he was very successful.”
“But of course, he is not the only player. I have been following the progress of other players in England and all over Europe.”
This association with Australia was one of the prime reasons for Mr Lowy contacting him late last year to see if he could analysis the current structures, make recommendations and provide a job description for the role of a Technical Director.
“When Mr Lowy phoned me and said lets have a meeting about the game in this country, it was very interesting,” he said.
“He (Mr Lowy) said he wants the game to progress and show a new direction, which I think is very important and I am very happy and it-s my privilege to be back in Australia to help in this process.”
Dr Venglos credentials to undertake this huge task are second to none, from a successful coaching career that saw him win a European title with Czechoslovakia in 1976 to becoming a key advisor for both UEFA (Chairman of Technical Development Committee of UEFA) and FIFA.
His current role is back in Slovakia, where he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Football Association, where he deals more with the technical side of the game.
His trip to Australia is a busy one, where he will meet delegates from all states, the National Team coaches and many of the National League coaches.
“My main objective is to analyse, speaking with people about soccer development and prepare papers about how high competitive factors can be reached.
“We will go through the different stages of development, of course national team is No.1, but the national team has a specific situation because all those top players, and excellent players of course, are in Europe or overseas.
“After that you have the National League, the State Leagues, youth development programs, which they are very good. Australia is ranked seventh or eighth in the world scale of youth programmes. You have plenty of talented players and you are continually producing good players.
“It-s not very important what I am thinking. The more important part is what those people are doing and thinking.
“Through listening and my experiences, we will try and adapt something which will be a benefit for Australian soccer. I haven-t come here to criticise but to try through discussion to find out the comparisons with how it works in Europe and how it works here to help speed up the progress of the game over here and on the international scale.”
As part of that process, Dr Venglos will be also be finding out what education programmes are in place for players and coaches.
“Part of it is the education of players and coaches and bringing in specialists from different sources like physiology, biomechanics, psychology, diet, doctors, media and all those factors which are making soccer such an important game in the world.”
The ultimate aim of his visit though is to improve Australia-s existing coaching infrastructure that will ensure the countries continued progression at the international arena at all age levels.
“So far in my discussions I found it well organised and professional and I think everybody understands the importance of uniformity of a working system, which is very common in Europe for example.
“We are speaking about are the quality of development of players, quality and development of organisation, how top youth players perform at a high competitive performance, international competitions, organisation and time of competitions, calendar and yearly programme, which is very interesting to make a comparison to Europe.”
“You are producing a certain quality of top players. They have to be good ones like Mark Viduka who I know and they are very successful, very competitive and highly respected.
“But you also have plenty of talented players over here and that is the second stage of taking care of those players staying at home to play in the National League and State League competition. In Europe those competitions are very important in the development of players.
“I think you are at a good stage of dynamism for improvement of the game in the country and the national team.”
Asked what he believed the main differences were between Australia and Europe, Dr Venglos put it down simply to how much football is played.
“In Europe you have a minimum 11 months of doing things, whether that be training, competitive games, the league and so on.
“It means the structure of the league clubs and the structure of the education of young players, its more demanding from the point of view of hours working or playing.”
Dr Venglos was also full of praise for our team-s performances in international youth competitions over the years.
“You beat Brazil at the Under 20 World Cup and you are ranked about seventh or eighth in the world of working with junior boys.
“But for those players the next one, two or three years will be the most important part of the development of a top talented player into the professional ranks.
“That sometimes needs a special approach, special way of making them top performers and many go outside the country during these years to play.”
At the completion of his tour around Australia, Dr Venglos will work through the important aspects with Mr Lowy and the relevant people at ASA and a report paper will be prepared.
Mr Venglos finished off by saying, “I want to say very honestly and straight on that I respect Australian soccer very much. I respect Australian sport in general very much; excellent organisation and results, as we saw in the Olympic Games and it gave your country a top image of excellent football and excellent sport.”
