At the FFBIH general assembly on April 26th last year, UEFA representative Thierry Favre introduced a new UEFA project, which among other things includes the development of youth football. The program for the development of elite young players is available to all national associations, and FFBIH will be organizing the first of four planned camps soon. Project leader Darko Ljubojevic explains what is the main goal of these camps:

"The goal is to improve the quality of training with 14 and 15 years year old players through new, modern and comprehensive approaches. We want to help clubs in create better players who will later serve as the foundation for national teams. This way, we're investing in the future of ours and European football. "

What's included in this project, what kind of education?

"Besides contemporary work with young football players, this project includes education in the field of culture, football rules, healthy nutrition, injury prevention, and so on. So, the aim is to offer young players the right combination of sports, academic and life skills, with emphasis on positive values."

For what age group are these football camps intended?

"The camps are designed for players who belong to the U-14 and U-15 categories (players born in 2002 and 2003). This year we'll hold four camps in four regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first camp is planned for the end of January and beginning of February for the Herzegovina region, and after that camps for the "North", "Center" and "East" regions are also planned. We'll be working with the 25 most talented players from each region, and then we'll make an analysis and detailed reports on each camp."

Is the project time-limited?

"The program will last for four years, but of course can be extended. This is only the beginning, and I'd like for this project to grow into an academy, after necessary conditions are met. That would be a significant step forward, where talented boys would live together, work, excersise, and educate themselves throughout the year, and we'd have a complete insight in their development paths. Following UEFA's guidelines regarding this program, we should establish a system for elite youth development which would be the most beneficial for our clubs and national teams in the future."

Are there such academies in the neighboring countries?

"Macedonia is an interesting example, they started the academy four years ago. We talked with our colleagues from the Macedonian football association who shared their experiences with us. Their national teams have been achieving good results lately, and the confirmation of that is Under-21 team's qualification to the European Championship finals. That is really a great success for them, and it came as a result of quality work in the academy."

Besides you, who else will be in charge of the implementation of this project?

"When we formed the team we wanted to have coaches with experience working with younger generations. We chose Zoran Erbez, current BiH Under-15 coach, Denis Malesevic who is coach at FK Borac Banja Luka and RS Under-15 team. Those are certainly two coaches who have an excellent insight into the quality of said generation. The team also include four coaches from our best clubs: Edin Becar, Vedran Kovacevic, Drazenko Bogdan and Dalibor Kozul, and of course there's Murat Jaha, a longtime coordinator for youth football in FFBIH."

You held the first meeting, are there any conclusions?

"Yesterday we discussed the technical details about the organization. We begin on January 29th and we agreed on work plan and program. It was a good and enthusiastic meeting, and we all want to get underway soon. The team is really excellent, and later we're going to include more experts in specific fields. Somehow I have a feeling we'll make a good story out of this, and implement it in the best way possible."

Do you have an obligation to send reports to UEFA?

"Of course, everything we do we have to send to UEFA for inspection. All training session schedules, analysis, reports, photo and video material, etc. have to be delivered to UEFA's Football Development Department each time."