Pro League Committee UAE football certificates programme kicks-off Monday
The Pro League Committee’s Football Certificates’ “Executive Management” programme kicked off on Monday, October 22. The programme, organised by the PLC in collaboration with the UAE Football Association Academy, aims to qualify professional sport administrators.
His Excellency Abdulla Nasir Al Junaibi, PLC Chairman opened the programme with a short speech, welcoming participants from the various sport organisations. “Eleven years ago, we were working on the foundations of professional football in the UAE,” said Al Junaibi, “We had so many challenges, but we went ahead, went far and our clubs became a model to follow on the continental stage. Our ambition and passion are unlimited.”
“The sport leaders qualification programme will help develop UAE sport in general, and especially football. We were eager to cooperate with the UAE FA Academy to create a complete programme delivered by Premier League experts and based on the top foundations and principles of sport management,” continued the chairman. “The programme is part of the PLC efforts to qualify staff of professional clubs in various fields, in implementation of the professional sports culture initiative, part of the 2017-2020 strategic plan.”
Al Junaibi concluded by encouraging participants to benefit from the lecturers and topics of discussion, wishing them the best of luck.
PLC Club Licensing and Development Director, Hamad Al Junaibi, delivered a brief presentation about the Executive Management programme, which continues for three days through to the 24th of the month, starting with the “Administration and Executive Management” module, followed by “Facility and Event Management” module in January 2019 then “Governance and Finance” module in March, the programme concludes with the final report presentation in May.
Former Head of Commercial Affairs at Wigan Athletic Football Club and former Head of the Community at Bolton Wanderers FC between 2009-2004, Ian Laithwaite, delivered a lecture about executive management in professional management, that included the importance of vision and mission in a professional football club, a model of day-to-day work in a football company, the importance of budgeting, education and planning in academies, investment in player transfers, investment in facilities, connecting clubs to the community and finally training and structuring.
The lectures were accompanied by practical and interactive applications to measure the level of understanding of the discussed topics amongst participants.
The course continues on Tuesday with lectures on the importance of developing club staff and their influence in achieving organisational goals.
