Prince Sultan Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, President of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) and President of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), approved Monday a program to develop the Saudi national teams. The plan was presented by Prince Nawaf Bin Faisal Bin Fahd, Deputy President of GPYW and Vice President of SAFF, who presides over the development program. Prince Sultan wished the group, which includes international experts, all success. He hoped that the plan would give positive results to enhance the performance of Saudi teams at regional, continental and international levels. Prince Nawaf pointed out that the team will work to suggest suitable solutions to revive national teams in Saudi Arabia. “The group will study the recent performances of the three Saudi national teams, through taking notes and opinions from administrative and technical officials,” Prince Nawaf said. He added that analyzing the real situation comes as a first step to find solutions that can help enforce positive sides and eliminate negative ones. “We will also work as hard as we can to create standards that can help us improve the performance of the Saudi players at all levels,” he added. The Prince also added that the group will also review ways to enhance the performance of the Saudi national coaches. He also said that they will review the impact of local participations on the performance of the national teams. “We will also work on a special program that involves in discovering, following and classifying of young players,” Prince Nawaf said. “Since a directive by the General President to develop the Saudi national teams was issued, the working group has made several studies and held many meetings,” he said. According to Prince Nawaf, two work groups were formed. The first one consists of Saudi professionals such as coaches, university specialists, former players and experienced administrators. “The second, the technical working group, will be headed by Gerard Houllier, Technical Director of the French Football Federation, as a consultant with his distinctive international experience and personal record of achievements,” he said. Houllier was responsible for the technical file for the preparation of the French team for the 1998 World Cup. In the same regard, the chief executive of the English Premier League in 1991-1997, Rick Parry, has been selected to head the administrative team. “A number of national well-known experts will help these two international professionals in their work,” Prince Nawaf said. The prince added that the team will meet with many Saudi teams' captains, head of clubs, media representatives and players who took part in the recent World Cup qualifying campaign to see what obstacles they faced. He said that the work will be divided into two phases. The first one includes collecting and analyzing data about everything related to Saudi football. “During the second phase, the plan will be implemented and reviewed on the basis of results,” he said.
