With the aim of promoting the development of football in Macao, nurturing football talent and improving the physical fitness of Macao’s youth, the Football Youth Academy, in conjunction with the Macao Sport Development Board and the Macao Football Association, and sponsored by the Macao Jockey Club, held a Recruitment Day at the miniature football field in the Olympic Sports Centre on December 10th. Over 600 young people and parents participated in this lively event.
The organisers hoped that the Recruitment Day would help them select potential young players to receive training at the academy and help nurture local football talents. The participants were arranged into five groups—Groups A, B, C, D for boys and one group for females, according to their ages and then put to the test. Students of the academy were asked to demonstrate each of the tests to help participants get familiar to the skills required. The skills tested included ball sense, dribbling technique, shooting, and dribbling speed. The participants were then graded by Asian Football Confederation B and C-Class coaches. During the event, the academy’s students had a goal-shooting play off against the Sparents, giving the event an air of excitement.
The Football Youth Academy altogether recruited a total of 350 students this year. They were divided into groups comprising Group A (students born in 1998-1999), Group B (students born in 2000-2001), Group C (students born in 2002-2004), Group D (students born in 2005-2006) for boys and one group for girls.
