A group of coaches working within the Scottish FA girls’ and women’s talent development programmes and at elite youth teams are in France to learn from the FIFA Women’s Under-20s World Cup, thanks to Erasmus+ funding.
24 coaches, coordinators and national team staff from across the country are spending eight days in Brittany for the major championships where our own u19 National team narrowly missed out on qualifying from a 2017 play-off in the European Championships in Belfast last year.
The group are scheduled to attend eight matches during the tournament to learn about coach development as well as how to aid girls’ and women's football develop talented youth players in Scotland.
Scotland’s Women’s Head Coach Shelley Kerr also travelled out with the group and presented to them.
The visit has been enabled courtesy of funding from the European Union Programme Erasmus+ for the next two years, until 2020 with the aim of continuing the association’s impressive coach education development.
Scottish FA’s Head of Girls’ and Women’s football Donald Gillies said: “Last year our coaches visited UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 in what was a sensational learning experience for everyone, at Scotland’s first major championships.
“This year, thanks to Erasmus+ we are doing something similar for the Under-20’s World Cup.
“In Scotland we are always learning from others and looking to implement what we can into our own systems.
“This learning opportunity will now hopefully act as motivation for all the participants to continue their own development and help improve our own crop of talented young players at clubs and in the talent ID pathway back home.
“Looking at the best countries at under 20s level to try and understand their approach to these games and the player qualities will hopefully serve to aid the participants in continuing to develop their own approach to improving their players back home."