Revolution promised as Dutch fly in to mastermind massive development programme for SAR game
Get ready for 'total football' - Hong Kong is going Dutch as it attempts to return from Asia's soccer wilderness. The HKFA has signed a five-year co-operation programme with the Royal Dutch Football Academy (KNVB) designed to trigger the biggest revolution the sport has ever seen in the territory.
Two Dutch coaches will arrive in the SAR today to kick-start the programme by preparing the Hong Kong national squad for their 2002 World Cup campaign and designing a football development programme for the territory. The agreement will cover the territory's matches in all major international tournaments through to 2006.
'We are venturing into a programme with the best possible partner we can find, and we are proud to be involved with one of the best football nations in the world,' said FA vice-president Bruce Mok. 'We are committed to doing everything in our power to bring the 'Dutch System' here, instead of asking our partner to adapt their 'system' to Hong Kong.
'We believe this is a programme that gives a clear road-map for Hong Kong football; a programme that gives genuine hope to the Hong Kong football public that the HKFA will deliver a successful representative team; a programme that will capture the imagination of all who care about Hong Kong football.'
Hong Kong's new head coach is Arie van der Zouwen, a 44-year-old former Feyenoord youth, under-18 and reserve team coach who has previously worked on KNVB programmes in Singapore and Zambia.
The new youth development coach is Nico Labohm, 47, who has worked at KNVB camps and clinics in Japan, Canada and the United States. Among the young players who developed under his wing were three-time European Footballer of the Year Marco van Basten, Ronald and Erwin Koeman and current stars Boudewijn Zenden of Barcelona and Giovanni van Bronckhorst of Rangers.
The development programme will be monitored by two KNVB directors - Henk van de Wetering, 46, and former Sparta Rotterdam player and Feyenoord head coach Pim Verbeek, 44.
The KNVB team will lead Hong Kong's representative squads of various ages over the next five years in tournaments including the All-China Games, the East Asian Games, Asian Games, Asian Cup, Asian Youth Championships, the 2004 Olympic qualifiers and the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.
While unveiling the coaches and directors, Mok insisted: 'I would like to emphasise very clearly that the agreement is not about the coach or the coaches. The heart of the programme is the 'system'. I refer to the term 'system' in two ways. Firstly, it refers to the way that the Dutch national team plays. This is a playing system which emphasises skill and pace. We believe it is more suitable to the players we have in Hong Kong. Secondly, the term 'system' refers to the youth development system which has been most successful in the last 30 years.
'The Netherlands is a small country in Europe which developed itself into a football giant with the best footballers in the world. It may be worth remembering that some 30 years ago they led the way with Johan Cruyff and 'total football' while the Ajax Academy is considered the best of its kind in the world. One of the full-time staff from the Netherlands will be responsible for executing a long-term programme to develop youth players in Hong Kong.'
Van der Zouwen and Labohm will arrive today and stay until Monday. They will return to the territory around September 18, when at least one of the programme directors will officially start the co-operation. The Hong Kong senior squad will get together on September 25 and begin a series of friendly matches from October in preparation for their 2002 World Cup qualifiers against Qatar, Malaysia and Palestine.
FA chairman Martin Hong saluted the programme as 'the best solution possible' and 'the first of its kind in this part of the world'.
