Mazhar Ahmed

From raising competition standards to Dream Again workshop to developing coaches and creating better pathways for young talent ⚽🇮🇳 Mr. @maazy12, FIFA Consultant for Asia & Oceania, shares his thoughts on the growth of youth football in India and the impact of the Dream Sports Championship Football 2026 ✨ [Dream Sports Championship Football 2026, Dream Sports Foundation, AIFF Junior League National Finals, Dream Big]

Stunning stuff. Curacao, smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, now looks as if it will by the oldest World Cup coach ever: Dick Advocaat, 78, former manager of Holland, Russia, Iraq, Rangers etc etc. Seems he will be reappointed as coach now// 1/2

Why FII’s r selling : Some data : PAT expected for the current year : Samsung : $250 bn SK Hynix: $150 bn TSMC : $ 100 bn India Inc. : $200 bn

Been waiting for this moment for 2️⃣0️⃣ years… See you in the @ChampionsLeague final, Gooners! @Arsenal ❤️🤍

Can’t be more happier than to see this guy lose. Chandra kept it classy to not respond directly.

As excitement around elections dies down, cannot help but think of PTR and the powerful campaign he ran in Madurai Central. The people’s mandate has been delivered; PTR has lost. But so has Tamil Nadu, which loses an erudite voice of reason in a treacherous political atmosphere.

Khasanov decides to take matters into his own hands to bring home the #AFCU17 🏆 to 🇺🇿 Tashkent! 👏 #MondayMemories

India will be hosting the #2030CWG. But it is still paying for the 2010 CWG. ▪️₹28.05 cr cleared in 2025-26. ▪️₹50 cr more projected for 2026-27. ▪️₹13 cr + in legal costs. ▪️29 court cases active. 16 years later, the Games haven’t ended. More 👇 indianexpress.com/article/sports…

Per Mertesacker stands in front of the parents of every under-eight at Arsenal and tells them the same thing. "Your son has got less than 1% to be the next Saka. We've got to make sure that we develop well-rounded individuals who still can find a bus station and are not waiting for the taxis when we leave them. 99% need to find a different job, period. We cannot just prepare them to fail. No chance, I am not in it for this." That's not pessimism, that's the most honest thing anyone in elite youth football has said out loud in years. 1️⃣ Mertesacker spent nearly eight years as Arsenal's academy manager, overseeing one of the most productive periods in Hale End's history Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Max Dowman and the foundation of all of it wasn't a scouting methodology or a training model. It was a decision to tell the truth to every parent, right from the very beginning. Less than one per cent will make it as a professional. The programme exists for the other 99% as well, and the two things are not in conflict. The bus station isn't a place, it's a metaphor for what independent, capable, grounded young people are able to do when the football eventually stops. Finding their own way, without needing someone to carry them there. 2️⃣ What he's describing is something grassroots football has always understood at some level but rarely said with this kind of clarity. Most of the children we work with will not become professional footballers. That isn't a failure of the coach, or the child, or the programme it is just the shape of the numbers, and it has always been the shape of the numbers. The question worth sitting with is whether the experience we're giving them is one that sets them up well for a life that will mostly happen away from football, or one that only makes sense if the 1% outcome arrives. 3️⃣ The line that lands hardest is this: "We cannot just prepare them to fail." Preparing children to fail is exactly what happens when the entire environment is built around an outcome that almost none of them will reach. When self-worth gets tied to selection. When being released at sixteen feels like the end of something rather than a redirect. When the adults around a young player have quietly, without meaning to, communicated that the football is the point and the person is secondary. Mertesacker spent eight years at one of the biggest clubs in the world arguing the opposite, and the players coming out of Hale End reflect it. 4️⃣ For those of us working at grassroots level, there's something both sobering and freeing about hearing this from someone at the very top of the game. If Arsenal's academy manager is standing in front of under-eight parents and reframing what success looks like, then the rest of us have permission and perhaps a responsibility, to do the same. Not to lower expectations, but to broaden what we're actually developing: • Confidence that doesn't depend on being picked • Resilience that outlasts a bad season • The ability to work in a group, handle setbacks, and keep showing up • An identity that exists outside of football These things serve the 1% and the 99% equally, and they're built in exactly the same sessions, on exactly the same pitches. 5️⃣ Mertesacker has now stepped down from his role at Arsenal, and what he leaves behind isn't just a list of players who made the first team, it's a way of thinking about what a programme is actually for. That conversation doesn't stay at Hale End. It belongs everywhere a child is learning the game, including your Sunday morning pitch. Do the clubs and programmes you're involved with talk honestly with parents about where this road leads and what it's building along the way? We'd love to hear your experience below 👇

Just found out that in 1998, Aitor Zabaleta, an 18 year old Sociedad fan, was stabbed to death by Atletico Madrid ultras. Yesterday, 28 years later, Sociedad players honoured him by celebrating the win vs Atletico by holding up his jersey. Beautiful 💙

Football does not have a revenue earning problem, it has a cost control problem. Revenues in the Premier League have ⬆️by 3,233% since it started in 1992 but wage costs are up 4,429% and transfer purchases 4,138%. If you are old enough, find your pay packet from 1992 and increase it by 4,429%. I was on £23,500 then, that would be £996,000 today, teacher's salaries are not quite that high.

🚨 #BREAKING The AFC have announced major changed to #ACLElite. ⬆️ Increase from 24 to 32 teams - 16 teams each in East/West 🪜 Only top six of each zone guaranteed progression 🏟️ Teams ranked 6-10 to play additional Knockout Stage Playoff to decide final two spots

📍SARAJEVO! #FIFAWorldCup

Legendary status unlocked by Graham Arnold 🇮🇶 An honorary citizen among 46million people after ending a 40-year World Cup drought. Scenes.

The “key to success” in international football, according to Graham Arnold, is preparation. So much for that. Here's a yarn on what Arnie's doing with Iraq and what's at stake. Would be a special accomplishment to get them to the World Cup. smh.com.au/sport/soccer/a…

I am no stranger to criticism and have learnt, over time, to absorb it without losing focus. That is part of public life. What is harder to accept is the steady erosion of civility in our discourse. Disagreement is essential; derision and vituperative, personal slander is not. A confident society does not fear dialogue—it conducts it with balance, clarity, and respect. As for me, I follow the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna and his advice: “forbear, forbear, forbear.” That has guided me through my life’s journey.

The Tonali assist was almost as good as the Dimarco volley. Can’t stop watching this banger.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview Hajime Moriyasu. He spoke about why he thinks Japan can win the World Cup, stress and dealing with criticism, and the upcoming friendlies against Scotland and England.

Lightyears ahead in employability! stat.wisc.edu/2025/11/11/spo… #Innovation Solve real life problems

🤩 Amazing tifo from Kaiserslautern ultras in the South-West derby. #Bundesliga2 #Betze