September 4: The Professional Football League (PFL) of Azerbaijan has signed a partnership with the Johan Cruyff Institute, giving league staff access to specialist training in sports management, football business, marketing and leadership.
Under the agreement, PFL employees will be able to participate in a number of Institute educational programs on preferential terms, along with knowledge sharing and professional development initiatives between the two organizations.
The deal is clearly structured to strengthen the off-field expertise behind Azerbaijan’s professional game, with the PFL focusing on developing its internal structure rather than simply importing the usual shortcut of external expertise.
Elkhan Samadov, president of the PFL, said: “For the PFL, international cooperation is a crucial component of our efforts to develop football, and the partnership with the Johan Cruyff Institute creates important opportunities for the professional development of our staff.”
For nearly three decades, the Johan Cruyff Institute has been offering more than 90 programs around the world that help educate about sports management, marketing, sponsorship and football business, with the same ambition as its namesake.
The country’s football federation, AFFA, signed its own partnership agreement with the Institute in April, meaning local professionals gained preferential access to its programs. This agreement was also opened to Azerbaijan’s other sports federations and was presented as part of a wider push to improve football education and human resources in the country.
Therefore, the new PFL agreement extends this relationship to the professional league itself.
Historically, much of the focus on the development of Azerbaijani football has focused on facilities, clubs and player development. The Cruyff institutes’ intervention points to another part of the equation: creating people with more behind-the-scenes experience in areas such as administration, business operations and management, growing the organization from within.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)