Launched at the AFC Congress in Kuala Lumpur last August, Vision Asia represents the new strategy for Asian football. Focusing on development in 11 key areas - including youth and coaching, refereeing and sports medicine, marketing and media - the President updated The FA's Head of Football Affairs, David Davies, and the International Relations team, on the progress and implementation of the strategy. Currently undergoing a major recruitment process, the AFC explained that the next step would be the educational development of the various consultants and liaison officers which is where The FA, with its increasing reputation for delivering workshops and courses worldwide in a diverse range of disciplines, would be invited to play a key role.

"We appreciate the efforts of The FA to assist the AFC in the development of its football," said the President.

"English football has an established and sustainable structure which is not the case in Asia and we welcome the opportunity to share the expertise and knowledge of The FA."

From The FA's point of view, the meeting provided an opportunity to review the nature and content of The FA's co-operation agreement with the AFC which dates back to the year 2000. It was also an occasion to update the AFC on key areas where the mutual exchange of best practice ideas and experiences, notably in the field of sports medicine where The FA's Medical & Exercise Science unit is one of the most pro-active and developed in the world. FA Learning, the umbrella for all of The FA's educational products, is also an area of interest as it has the potential to offer education services to the AFC in many of its core development areas.

"The discussions today were positive on a number of levels," explained Jane Bateman, Head of International Relations at The FA.

"The AFC embraces 45 national associations which, whilst of varying levels of development, are all being brought together under the AFC's new strategy. Asia is an enormous growth area in football and therefore an important market for The FA, not least in terms of offering our expertise and training services."

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