ANFA to hire French coach for youth academy

KATHMANDU, July 16: As the ambitious youth academy project set up about a decade ago failed to yield expected results, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) has decided to hire French coach Cristophe Gamel to look after its ANFA Academy, ANFA President Ganesh Thapa confirmed.



"The French man is likely to arrive in Nepal to take charge of the youth academy by August," Thapa told the Republica over the phone adding, "He will look after all three age group players - U-12, U-14 and U-17 teams." [break]



"We have discussed the matter with his agent and he has given a green signal," Thapa said. "In the first phase we will offer him a contract for at least 15 months."



"We have decided to enroll Gamel at academy focusing on youth football," Thapa said. "Our special focus is on AFC U-16 Qualifiers to be held in September 2013. We will start preparations aiming to qualify for the final rounds and for this we are set to overhaul the system of academy as well."



"We hope a year´s time will be sufficient for training. He will remain in Nepal in the capacity of technical director of Academy and will look after academies across the nation. Currently ANFA is running academies in Kathmandu, Butwal and Dharan.



According to Thapa, the salary was yet to be confirmed. "The negotiation is going on and is yet to be confirmed. The deal may be settled between $ 3,500 to $ 5,000 per month."



Gamel was put at top of priority list after ANFA found his profile impressive. "His profile was impressive and our well wishers in Qatar had also given positive message," said Thapa adding that the Frenchman was currently with a top flight club of Qatar as well as with U-16 and U-19 team.



Revealing his plans for building a strong team Thapa said, "We will hire nutrition expert and arrange feeding facility as per instruction. We will also conduct talent hunt program across the nation."



"During previous selection physique of player, especially the height has been one of the drawback. While searching for new talents we will keep players´ physique in priority along with their skills."



Meanwhile, Thapa also revealed plans of domestic as well as foreign exposure to the youth players. ANFA is also planning to take U-14 team to Japan for exposure. "Along with providing internal exposure we are planning to compete in an invitational tournament in Japan in October."

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