On Monday (27), the CBF held its first meeting with the Brazilian Youth Development Working Group, an event that filled the entity’s auditorium in Rio de Janeiro with club officials, CBF representatives, and federation members. Head coach Carlo Ancelotti attended the meeting alongside CBF president Samir Xaud.
The kickoff of the Working Group was marked by debates and proposals for improvements in Brazil’s youth football categories. Considered strategic for the future, the measure adds to the entity’s efforts to urgently modernize Brazilian football, following the restructuring of the men’s and women’s calendars, the launch of the Financial Fair Play model, and the professionalization of refereeing.
“Youth football is another extremely important pillar of our administration. That is where our stars come from. The CBF has been creating specific working groups for each sector, and now it is the youth system’s turn. I am very happy to have appointed our president Felipe Silva to coordinate this Working Group, together with Hélder Melillo. With this measure, the CBF recognizes the importance of the entire Brazilian youth football ecosystem. Today marks this new management model with the certainty that we will leave a very positive legacy for Brazilian youth development,” said president Samir Xaud at the opening of the meeting.
Samir Xaud, Ancelotti, and Cris Gambaré took part in the opening of the Youth Development Working GroupCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
Also receiving strong applause, Brazil national team coach Carlo Ancelotti highlighted the CBF’s new initiative.
“This is a very important project for the development of young Brazilians. The history of football shows that this country has always had great footballers, players with talent and a lot of creativity. It is a country with a sporting and football tradition. But talent cannot be created. This project was not born to create talent, but to educate talent. Investing in development is investing in Brazilian football. We want to create not strong legs, but strong minds,” said Ancelotti.
The Working Group’s goal is, through meetings such as the one held on Monday, to draw up proposals to improve the player development model for boys and girls in all regions of the country, aligning it with international guidelines, with legislative and institutional suggestions aimed at protecting athlete development, the sustainability of training clubs, and the integrity of the development process.
Felipe Silva, president of the Youth Development Working GroupCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
“The Youth Development Working Group aims to regulate the football calendar so that athletes in training are not harmed in their activities, to ensure that women’s football is structured and strengthened, to regulate football agents, among other benefits. Everything is intended to protect our main asset, which is the athlete, especially the young athlete,” said Felipe Silva, acting president of the Rio Grande do Norte Football Federation and president of the Youth Development Working Group.
As happened with the Refereeing and Financial Fair Play Working Groups, the CBF will lead this working group collectively. It will include representatives from the entity itself and from state federations, clubs competing in men’s and women’s youth tournaments, experts in sports development and education, and independent technical consultants.
The Working Group received nationwide support and will be made up of one hundred professionals, including specialists and invited former players, representatives of clubs, federations, the CBF Academy, and members of the CBF itself.
“One of the priorities of the CBF’s new administration is to tackle the structural problems of Brazilian football through dialogue. So, on Monday, we had the inaugural meeting of the Working Group, the Youth Development Working Group, our third major working group. We hope that by carrying out this work, the CBF will be able to move forward and develop and retain more players, in addition to improving our calendar. In short, we have a set of actions with the expectation of deepening and advancing them over the coming months,” commented executive director of management Helder Melillo.
Cris Gambaré at the Youth Development Working Group meetingCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
The Youth Development Working Group is also guided by the goal of promoting Brazilian women’s football in the same way. For CBF Women’s National Teams technical coordinator Cris Gambaré, the Working Group has everything it needs to foster the sport throughout the country.
“It is a great honor to be taking part in this first meeting. I can see how important it is for clubs to send their representatives to be part of this structure, and how important it is for us to fully align the development of youth categories so that in the future we can truly have these athletes performing at a high level, in the way we have always liked to see Brazilian football played well and well structured. We are facing a great opportunity. May clubs now be guided to implement youth categories nationwide, may the states promote their competitions, and may we always do more so that this category grows in constant evolution,” said Cris Gambaré.
1994 world champion Branco, coordinator of the CBF’s men’s youth football, also emphasized the major step taken by the CBF.
“I want to congratulate president Samir Xaud, Helder Melillo, and the entire working group that was formed for this unique moment. Whether on or off the field, we obviously need to talk about the future. Football has evolved a lot, we have our essence, our qualities, and today there are many tools, but the most important thing is the athlete. We have to take good care of the athlete in development, including the mental and educational aspects. Clearly, a meeting like the one that began on Monday was a spectacular milestone for the future of Brazilian football. Everyone here is having the privilege and honor of taking part in a story that will certainly be beautiful in the future,” he said.
Branco praised the CBF initiativeCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
The discussions, which began on Monday, are guided by the following thematic areas: competition calendars and compatibility with the school calendar; certification and governance of training clubs; the regulatory environment applicable to youth categories; national guidelines for the development of young talent; and the development of youth categories in women’s football. The final proposal must be delivered to the CBF Presidency within 90 days from the date of the first meeting, with the possibility of an extension because of the World Cup period.
On Monday, after the opening by president Samir Xaud and the presentation of the Working Group’s activities and goals by Felipe Silva, Branco, Cris Gambaré, and CBF Academy director Tiago Pereira, the event featured four panels covering different topics. To discuss policies and best practices for the development of youth categories, the panel included João Paulo Medina, partner-owner of Universidade do Futebol, Tomaz Morais, Development director responsible for the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy, Paulo André, former football player, and Inês Caetano, Guest Assistant Professor at Nova SBE and administrator of Sports Embassy.
Ricardo Gluck and Edmilson, 2002 world championCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
In the afternoon, on the topic of youth competition calendars: challenges and best practices, the audience’s attention was shared by former world champion Edmilson, alongside CBF Competitions director Julio Avellar, Competitions manager Aline Pellegrino, president of the Pará Football Federation and CBF vice-president Ricardo Gluck, and Luis Branco, Scouting and Market Expert at Sporting Lisbon (Portugal).
Bruno Costa and Matheus Senna at the first Youth Development Working Group meetingCredits: Nelson Terme / CBF
Next, the panel on opportunities and challenges for training clubs featured Bruno Costa, director of the CBF’s International Offices, Matheus Senna, CBF director of Development and Projects, Oscar Tojo, National Technical Director of the Portuguese Football Federation, Marcelo Lima, CEO of Desportivo Brasil, and Luiz Carlos, general manager of Atlético-MG’s Youth Categories.
Finally, to speak about the regulatory environment surrounding the work of football agents, CBF legal director André Mattos and CBF Academy director Tiago Pereira took the stage.
André Mattos spoke on the final panel of the meeting Credits: Nelson Terme / CBF
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.