Youth development in S’pore must be addressed, says new FAS technical director Sablon

SINGAPORE – Michel Sablon, who was officially unveiled as the new technical director of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) today (April 9), has said youth development in Singapore is an area that must be addressed.

The 67-year-old Belgian, who has been appointed by the FAS on a two-year contract, said this during his official presentation at the Jalan Besar Stadium today.

“First of all, I need to analyse. We first need to look out for the positive things and elaborate from there,” said Sablon. “Let me give you an example, we have academies which are in clubs and the FAS to develop youths and the way we do things here could be changed or improved.”

Sablon is best known for his stint as technical director at the Royal Belgian Football Association, where he drew up their long-term strategic blueprint that transformed Belgium’s footballing fortunes which had dipped in the nineties.

The system has since produced the likes of Premier League stars Eden Hazard, Vincent Kompany, Marouane Fellaini and Thibaut Courtois – all part of Belgium’s golden generation that reached the quarter-finals of last year’s World Cup in Brazil, where they lost 1-0 to eventual finalists Argentina.

Sablon was also assistant to then-Belgium national coach Guy Thys at the 1986 World Cup, where they finished fourth, and was part of his country’s coaching staff at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.