Steve Morrow: “Today’s Work Will Show Results in a Few Years”

— Welcome back to Kazakhstan — this is my third visit. It’s been a really good few days. My two previous visits were, I guess, more about understanding where youth football and development stand in the country, and where talent-identification currently is — and how we could help support the Kazakhstan Football Federation to improve things for the future. That’s what this workshop is about. Over nearly four days, we’re working with senior staff of the Federation — looking at how we can help set up structures and systems to find the best talents in the country, how to bring those talents together to develop them, and raise the overall standard of national-team football in Kazakhstan — helping them become competitive at the highest level in European / UEFA competitions.

I think the Federation has already done a lot of good work. We now have a clear vision and direction, and the work to do. For me it boils down to five key things: the right structure and processes, the right staff, training that staff in what excellence looks like, proper tools and levels, and a digital system — and understanding what role they play in our programme. That’s very important for identifying and developing players.

The field of talent identification and player development has changed significantly in recent years and has reached a new level. The most important factor today is working effectively with player observation system. We can now collect a vast amount of information about footballers. These data allow us to assess their current level and compare them with talents from other countries. There is a lot of information, but the key is knowing how to use it correctly. This is a very large and important task.

Moreover, we could set up the same structure in two different countries, yet one will progress faster while the other develops more slowly. It depends on a lot of things. The ambitions, motivation and intentions. It is important to understand that if we start working with the best young players today, they will need at least three to five years to reach a high level. If we star now, we will make a little improvements in the national teams U15, U16, U17 every year.