ABSTRACT
Few football nations have a structured approach to developing young talent through to the future international players. Most nations rely on relatively loose unstructured methods of development, relying more on their clubs and national coaches to assemble squads for qualifying campaigns and participation in finals.
The author has been privileged to work in football over the last 18 years, has been deeply involved in performance sport since 1995, and especially after 1998 as a chair of the Scottish Institute of Sport and his involvement in the development of Mission 2012, the UK’s successful high performance system. How might such a philosophy be applied to football and, indeed, would it be accepted?
The chapter outlines the approach taken to develop performance management systems in the football associations of England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as in other team sports (rugby union, rugby league, cricket and hockey).
