Audiences composed of federation and club officials as well as representative of the police and the media will attend the presentations which will be held in Ecuador and in Chile in the first week of March.

The exercise forms the first co-operative venture between The FA and the South American football confederation CONMEBOL since an historic agreement was sealed between the two parties late last year representing a commitment to work together on the development of the game. Under the agreement, signed by FA Chairman, Geoff Thompson, and CONMEBOL President, Dr Nicolas Leoz, the 2004 programme will kick off by addressing the theme of Stadium Safety which is one of high importance to South American football.

England has its own well-documented history of incidents in its stadia, not least the horrors of Hillsborough in the ’80’s and the Bradford fire, and has taken significant measures since then to research and apply legislation that is now universally applauded and which has resulted in a much safer environment at matches for English fans. England enjoys a number of new stadia and its older ones have been modernised to meet modern safety regulations. In Ecuador and Chile, however, the stadia are generally older with violence and hooliganism within them a growing problem and one that its football authorities are keen to combat.

The FA delegation will be led by Chris Whalley, The FA’s Head of Stadia, Safety and Security who, prior to his appointment to The FA 2 ½ years ago, spent 22 years at the Football League (the oldest league in the world) including 14 years in charge of its Stadia and Safety Department.

He will be accompanied by Detective Superintendent Bryan Drew, Assistant Director (Specialist Intelligence) of the National Criminal Intelligence Service for the last 12 years, who has played a key role in the UK Inter-Governmental Co-ordinating Group for tournaments ranging from the European Championships of 1992 and 2000 to the 1990, 1998 and 2002 World Cup Finals.

The third member of the party is John de Quidt, Chief Executive of the Football Licensing Authority since 1991 and who, in this time, has overseen the formulation and implementation of many of the major improvements in the design, spectator facilities, regulation and safety management of football stadia in England and Wales. He is also an adviser to Governments - British and overseas - on spectator safety.

Over the course of each two-day seminar, the speakers will not only give their audience an insight into English issues and how they have been addressed, but listen to the specific problems facing the South Americans and brainstorm practical solutions based on the mutual experiences.

The sessions will include Lessons from Stadium Disasters, Policing Football Matches, Dealing with Offenders and Encouraging the Decent Spectators, Managing & Caring for Supporters.

The FA has agreements with each of the world’s football confederations through its International Development Programme working in each continent to develop football through coaching, refereeing and administration courses and workshops as well as delivering seminars on specialist subjects such as Marketing & Sponsorship, Player Registrations & Transfers and Fitness Training.

For further information on The FA’s international work, please click here