The following was compiled based on interviews with several top coaches, players and national football association professionals following the World Cup 2002 in Korea/Japan.

Below are some of the questions of the interviews:

What were some of the factors for which Holland, Romania, Australia, The Czech Republic, Colombia etc. did not qualify for the 2002 World Cup?

What happened to the elite Latin football countries, such as France, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Spain at the 2002 World Cup? 

What are the main three qualities of the CHAMPIONS as observed at the World Cup?

What are the three main qualities for a Winning Professional Football COACH?

What are the main 3-qualities of a Professional Star - PLAYER?

What are the three main qualities for a Winning Professional Football COACH?

What are the main 3-qualities of a Professional Football - MANAGER/LEADER?

What are the three main conditions for a National Football Association to prepare the National Team to qualify for future World Cups and win supremacy during the World Cup?

Future factors, qualities, angles for the coaches’ future preparation, activity & performance

Few considerations regarding the future directions of the game’s development for the 2006, 2010 & 2014 World Cups

I.  What were some of the factors for which Holland, Romania, Australia, The Czech Republic, Colombia etc. did not qualify for the 2002 World Cup?

• After the World Cup 1994 and particularly the one of 1998, National team star-players’ interests refocused to the club team level, along with the appropriate financial remuneration, club and individual media coverage, etc.   This, evidently, lowered the interest and ultimately, the value of giving the very best for the national team.

• Most of the national football associations listed above, like many other non-qualified national teams at the 2002 World Cup, were not aggressively looking into finding or implementing ways to motivate players to invest in the higher goals of a national team – as opposed to their efforts done on behalf of the clubs.

• Also, many of these national teams had a series of internal problems such as changing the national coaches, injuries of some of the star-players, direct conflicts between coaches and players, some of the star-players’ lack of preparation for the World Cup qualification games, underestimating the opponent or/and overestimating own team capacity to win, etc.

II.  What happened to the elite Latin football countries, such as France, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Spain at the 2002 World Cup?

• Some Latin countries were caught off-guard by the opposition shown by some of the other national teams (which came extremely prepared and motivated to win).

  • The main excuse for these teams (France, Portugal, Spain, etc.) was that they have played up to two to three weeks before the World Cup, thus pushing the playing time to a maximum and recovery/preparation time to a minimum.  Despite of that aspect, however, Brazil and Germany demonstrated, actually, the reverse of this theory.

  • Bottom line is that there is a very intricate psychological, social and sportive set of factors that interconnect all club and national team-level activities and need to be understood and accepted by all players and coaches as well as the  football associations.  

• Most of the players, coaches and football associations were confident that they would have easy wins in their first rounds. Even Brazil – the best team and winner of the World Cup-2002—passed trough the first round with certain difficulties, experiencing the same psychological “un-calibrated” perception of their first-round opponents.

• One of the most interesting aspects vis-à-vis these particular Latin teams was the lack of solid and structured programming (that should have been designed and implemented by the national FA, coaches and their teamwork at least a month before the World Cup).

III.  What are the main three qualities of the CHAMPIONS as observed at the World Cup?

• One of the fundamental elements of success at the World Cup remains within the very structure and level of preparation and professionalism of the National Coach.   He needs to lead and manage, create and execute at the same time, while constantly and consistently balancing a series of interdependent relationships between the parties involved in his teamwork.  The successful translation of his own condition of success through the stages of dependence, independence and interdependence has to be echoed by his ability to motivate his team to accept the same rules and commitment to a synergistic success.   The new coach, as defined after this past World Cup, needs to have a modern concept based on a total mental-commitment and excellent team-tactics for playing and particularly, for motivating the players to win.

• The game skills were another great asset of the 2002 World Cup stars.  Most players exhibited exceptional skills in the physical strength and stamina doubled and balanced by discipline and self-control.  

• Brazilians, through their “total-football-system”, demonstrated at the World Cup 2002 the most fruitful and flexible partnership between mind, body, and skill.   Moreover, they have played without position in a small group-in attack and with entire team-in defense.

IV.  What are the three main qualities for a Winning Professional Football COACH?

1.  Inherent or “genetic” personality is the most important aspect of the coaches’ personality, identified by:

• talent for working with players and in a teamwork, making and taking the best decision.

• energy to develop an ongoing self and team balance

• strong character ruled by ethics, professionalism and belief in the team’s goals. 

2. Professional personality comes into play at the juxtaposition between evaluation, diagnosis and pre-designed plan-programs.  This is revealed through:

• selection, formation and changing of the  first 11 during the official games;

• preparation, maintenance and infusion of confidence into players and teamwork of professionals

• leadership in designing the playing, training and recovering activities

3. Social Integration through:

• acceptance of the “world of football”, its risks and opportunities as well as, sometimes, the “volatility” of the “business” side of it. 

• acceptance by the “world of football” at national and international levels 

• development of a needed charisma and professional maturity to deal with the multifaceted aspects of the job

V. What are the main 3-qualities of a Professional Star - PLAYER?

1. Genetic personality – born to play and win, irrespective of intensity of stress, and manifested through:

• talent for playing the art of football

• physical fitness – 2002 World Cup showed how the athlete became the football “acrobat.”

• strong character and fair play

2.  Professional personality - development, capabilities and efficiency in playing to win:    

• in attack along with his contribution to the result of the team

• in defense along with his contribution to the result of the game

• at set plays along with his contribution to the result of the game 

3.       Strong mental and fair play character:     

• avoid conflicts by accepting FIFA, Confederation & National Football Rules.

• integrate within the football family and gain acceptance into the world of high performance

• build an equal prestige to play at the club as well as National Team level.

VI. What are the 3-main qualities for a professional star - REFEREE? 

1.  Genetic personality – an inherent ability to judge football objectively as a sport, art, spectator-show and business:

• talent - World Cup 2002 demonstrated superb talent within the ranks of successful referees 

• multidimensional correlations between walking-running-judging-managing and calling the right decision during the game

• integrity to play fair, and maintain, to the best of his abilities, an objective approach to his judgment of the game 

2.  Professional personality - despite the amateur status that the referees still hold, they have shown a high level of quality in their performance.  However, professionalism is reflected through:

• special professional mental preparation, concentrating on balancing the emotional against cerebral, and total self-control in all levels of stress dictated by game situations

• perfect cooperation with assistants by timing  and managing the energy during the game

• fair character, supporting the  game and the  teams to play fair and allow the best to win

3.  Professional referees’ personality:

• experience - one of the most common reasons the referees make mistakes (particularly, during competitions such as the World Cup) stems from the lack of emotional control in maximum stress which, many times, is a direct result of deficient refereeing experience at the international level.

  • Question becomes: when a  referee demonstrates exceptional value in past (the main reason he has been selected for the World Cup), though proves the opposite during an official game (as in mistakes leading to a significant change in the game’s result), should the  referee be sanctioned?

  • On the other hand, a series of interviewees believed that the actual system of referee selection for the World Cup needs to be reconsidered.  In their opinion, FIFA needs to continue to support the referees in taking the right decisions by using electronic devices, TV-review of the game situation, using the third and fourth referee assistants for the goal-lines, special psychological tests meant to fine-tune preparation during the period of four years between the World Cups, etc.

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VII.  What are the main 3-qualities of a Professional Football - MANAGER/LEADER?

• Football Leaders need to support the club teams and the national teams and then ask for high[er] performance in return (many football association leaders are taking unexpected decisions and sometimes against their own national team’s interests, leading in the long run to a wrong trajectory in the game development).

• Football Managers should be partners of coaches and players.

• Football Administrators are the ultimate key to the execution of performance concepts and plans, just as Korea and Japan demonstrated during the World Cup 2002.

VIII.     What are the three main conditions for a National Football Association to prepare the National Team to qualify for future World Cups and win supremacy during the World Cup?

• Find the right coach to select, prepare and lead to win the team in the World Cup

• Stand by and support the National Coach in his development of the entire strategic plan-program

• Call for a collaborative support from the national media, clubs, supporters and sponsors.

IX. Future factors, qualities, angles for the coaches’ future preparation, activity & performance:

1.  The game is an Art to be perfected through:

• the individual players’ and their:

  • mental power and preparation to win in all training, recovering and playing situations

  • skills in attack, defense and at set plays, developed at the highest level of performance.

  • physical fitness and their becoming athlete-acrobats around the ball and their opponents (through skilled body-control and non-violent play).

• teams, within their consistent designs for attack, defense & set plays tactics

• teams  and their ultimate winning strategies.

2.  The game is a Science –World Cup 2002 demonstrated that the frontiers of football are continuously opening towards a series of research and their cutting edge applications in  biotechnology.

3.  The game is a great Business as unknown players, coaches & support staff can become millionaires within a world-cup-preparation time span, etc. 

X.   Few considerations regarding the future directions of the game’s development for the 2006, 2010 & 2014 World Cups: 

The game will continue to be developed within the same angles of art, science and business though with new models of implementation and execution

Coaches and leaders of the game have to recalibrate the interest, dedication and prestige of a national team  

Each football association needs to build national teams over a period of 4-8-12 years, inscribing the process within a cyclical yet flexible and continuous educational program

All national and continental club competitions have to be completed within an appropriate time frame, thus allocating for a strict one to two month preparation time for the World Cup.