Tech­ni­cal Di­rec­tor of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Foot­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (TTFA) An­ton Corneal has joined a se­lect­ed group of tech­ni­cal lead­ers from across the globe fol­low­ing his grad­u­a­tion from the first edi­tion of FI­FA’s Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma pro­gramme re­cent­ly.

Corneal, 61, at­tend­ed the fi­nal block of the 18-month-long course, which con­clud­ed with a se­ries of as­sess­ment pre­sen­ta­tions and a grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny at the FI­FA mu­se­um in Zurich be­tween 5-6 De­cem­ber.

Since com­menc­ing the pro­gramme in May 2023, Corneal has vis­it­ed Brazil, Japan, the Nether­lands, and Switzer­land as part of the diplo­ma, which aims to be­come the ‘glob­al­ly recog­nised qual­i­fi­ca­tion’ for tech­ni­cal lead­ers work­ing in the game.

“This trans­for­ma­tive ex­pe­ri­ence has not on­ly en­riched my knowl­edge and lead­er­ship skills but al­so deep­ened my un­der­stand­ing of crit­i­cal val­ues that dri­ve ex­cel­lence in sport and life,” said Corneal.

TTFA Pres­i­dent Kieron Ed­wards added, “An­ton’s achieve­ment in com­plet­ing the first-ever FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma is a mile­stone for Trinidad and To­ba­go foot­ball. It is not sole­ly a per­son­al achieve­ment re­flect­ing his ded­i­ca­tion but al­so our na­tion’s com­mit­ment to rais­ing the bar in foot­ball ed­u­ca­tion and de­vel­op­ment.”

“Many con­grat­u­la­tions to An­ton for grad­u­at­ing from the first-ever edi­tion of the FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma,” said Steven Martens, FI­FA Di­rec­tor of Glob­al Foot­ball De­vel­op­ment.

Martens, “The fu­ture of glob­al foot­ball re­quires ex­pert lead­ers across the world, and we be­lieve this qual­i­fi­ca­tion will help us achieve that aim. We are ex­cit­ed to see how each grad­u­ate from the diplo­ma will help shape and in­flu­ence the fu­ture of foot­ball in the years to come.”

Corneal, who was ap­point­ed TTFA Tech­ni­cal Di­rec­tor in 2022, was among 23 par­tic­i­pants for edi­tion one of the FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma, which had tech­ni­cal lead­ers from mem­ber as­so­ci­a­tions, con­fed­er­a­tions, and FI­FA and proved to be a ‘trans­for­ma­tion­al ex­pe­ri­ence,’ says Jamie Houchen, FI­FA Head of Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship.

Houchen said, “The ef­fort, en­er­gy, in­sight, and ca­ma­raderie each par­tic­i­pant has brought to the diplo­ma has en­sured the past 18 months have been a trans­for­ma­tion­al ex­pe­ri­ence for every­one in­volved,” ex­plains Houchen. “The FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma is the first qual­i­fi­ca­tion of its kind, and we tru­ly be­lieve it will play a huge role in the lead­er­ship of foot­ball around the world in the fu­ture—the first co­hort of grad­u­ates is now equipped with the skills and com­pe­ten­cies to lead the way in this area.”

FI­FA Pres­i­dent Gi­an­ni In­fan­ti­no has con­grat­u­lat­ed the first co­hort of grad­u­ates from the re­cent­ly in­sti­tut­ed FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship Diplo­ma, a course de­signed to pro­vide an in­dus­try-bench­marked ac­cred­it­ed qual­i­fi­ca­tion that sup­ports mem­ber as­so­ci­a­tions in re­cruit­ing proven tal­ent, ready to nur­ture, grow, and de­vel­op the game with­in an MA.

“You are trail­blaz­ers who will help FI­FA Mem­ber As­so­ci­a­tions de­vel­op play­er and coach path­ways, in line with a key pil­lar of our Strate­gic Ob­jec­tives,” said In­fan­ti­no.

The FI­FA pres­i­dent said, “We are proud to be able to ex­pand the glob­al can­vas of our game. Ed­u­ca­tion­al pro­grams such as these will en­sure the most in­clu­sive sport on the plan­et be­comes even more ac­ces­si­ble and com­pet­i­tive. Thank you for your in­vest­ment in foot­ball, and good luck for a bright fu­ture.”

Corneal ex­tends his deep­est grat­i­tude to FI­FA, the FI­FA Tech­ni­cal Lead­er­ship de­part­ment, lec­tur­ers, and fel­low par­tic­i­pants who made this jour­ney a mem­o­rable and re­ward­ing op­por­tu­ni­ty. I am in­spired to up­hold the prin­ci­ples of lead­er­ship and serve as an am­bas­sador of the said pro­gramme.