What is the AFC Festival of Football

The AFC Under 13 Boy and Under 14 Girls Festival of Football tournaments heralds a new era for Australia’s national teams.

The AFC Under 13 Boy and Under 14 Girls Festival of Football tournaments heralds a new era for Australia-s national teams.

For the first time, Australia will have teams in these age groups to participate at this annual event on the Asian Football Confederation calendar.

The development tournament provides an additional pathway for players at international level and if their progression through the national teams continues, then we may see some of these guys at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.

The Festival of Football has several objectives: 1. To provide a continuous player development pathway from the grassroots at the school level to the elite at the continental level. 2. To ensure smooth transition for the elite player at international level. 3. To enhance the role of the youth development programs in Member Associations. 4. To encourage Member Associations to start early preparation for their national team in preparation for future AFC competitions. 5. To provide the platform to discover and recruit talented young coaches and referees for AFC Project Future Programmes.

The tournament has several different formats:

Format 1 (Match day 1 and 2) - 3 games per match day

Each team play-s 30 minutes with no interval. The first 11 players (team 1) will start the first match. The remaining eleven players (team 2) must start the second match. Then team 1 starts the next match and so on. No substitutions allowed, except in the case of a serious injury.

Format 2 - (Match day 3 and 4) - 2 games per match day

The duration will be 60 minutes divided into two equal halves of 30 minutes each. The first eleven players (team 1) will start the first half match. The remaining eleven players (team 2) must start the second half of the match. No substitutions allowed, except in the case of a serious injury.

In the middle of the Festival, there is a skill test day with several aims.

1. To test current Football skills 2. To follow the continuity of player development, U13 to U14 3. To identify talented players 4. To produce a database of future analysis

The tournament also tries to promote fair play, so in addition to your traditional yellow and red cards, there is a Green Card. Players and teams who exhibit good sporting behaviour during the game will be shown the green card.