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Second youth football working group unites clubs, FAs and experts
The Working Group (WG) on Youth Football in Brazil met this Thursday (28) at CBF headquarters. The second WG meeting addressed agent regulation, the development of women’s football, the model for training clubs, and the competition calendar.
Opening the meeting, CBF Executive Director of Management Helder Melillo recalled that this is the third WG created by President Samir Xaud since he took charge of the CBF a year ago — the other two focus on Financial Fair Play and refereeing.
“This administration has been marked by dialogue about the structural problems we need to tackle in football. Actions that will shape our work for years come out of meetings like this,” said Helder Melillo.
Felipe Silva, president of the WG and of the Rio Grande do Norte Football Federation (FNF), thanked representatives from the CBF, clubs, and state federations, as well as specialists, for attending: “This collective effort will bring about important changes in youth competitions and national teams.”
The results of investment in women’s youth football
The progress of women’s football in recent years proves the importance of investment and integrated work in the youth categories. “Until 2024, few federations organized under-17 tournaments, and today more than 22 federations hold competitions in that category,” explained CBF Women’s Competitions Manager Aline Pellegrino.
She noted that the changes began with the amendment to the FIFA Statutes in 2016, which introduced the issue of gender equality. Since then, the organization has worked with its member associations on pillars such as increasing the number and quality of players and competitions, promoting and marketing women’s football, and increasing the presence of women in leadership positions.
Brazil, despite the challenges, has posted significant results: in four years, the number of registered professional players has nearly quintupled, jumping from 214 in 2022 to 1,058 in 2026.
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Gabriel Mastrodomênico, manager of the Women’s National Team youth categories, added that of the 26 players recently called up for the senior national team friendlies, 24 came through the youth ranks. That is a rate of 92.3%, which would only have been higher if the first women’s youth national team call-up had not taken place only in 2002, with the under-19 team.
“We have generations of players who did not have the opportunity to wear the Brazil shirt at youth level. And we rely on the clubs, because it’s a process — investment neither solves the problem nor brings an immediate return; the results come in the medium and long term,” he noted.
Nayeri Albuquerque, founding president of Minas Brasília Women’s Football, and Renata Armiliato, women’s football manager at Internacional, presented their clubs’ case studies and spoke about the importance of keeping the player at the center of the process, with better training and competition conditions.
Consultations on agents and the competition calendar
Since the creation of the WG in February, the CBF has conducted two consultations, one on the proposed regulation of football agents and another on the competition calendar.
Tiago Pereira, president of the CBF Academy, detailed the main demands raised regarding agent regulation and the timeline for the CBF Regulations to come into force starting next year. João Paulo Di Carlo, Legal Coordinator at the CBF, added that the regulations will include a Code of Ethics and Conduct.
Regarding the competition calendar, CBF Competitions Director Julio Avellar presented the consultation results and heard questions and suggestions from federations and clubs.
The activities of the second WG meeting also included a group exercise on proposals to address structural problems in youth football, led by consultant Diogo Matos. The CEO of Youth Football Management spoke about training clubs alongside Ênio Gualberto, CBF Director of Registration, Transfers and Licensing, and Augusto Oliveira, president of the Movement of Training Clubs.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in here.
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