The UEFA Study Group assembled in Dublin this week as the Football Association of Ireland's Coach Education Department hosted a specific workshop on Football for Fitness.

Representatives were from Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Northern Ireland and Ukraine, with Faye Downey, Chris Barnes, Remik Rzepka and Záhorský Jozef present from UEFA.

Coaching Practice demonstrations were made by Republic of Ireland Women's Under-17 Head Coach James Scott and Ireland Men's Under-15 Head Coach Jason Donohue, while Clare Conlon also presented on the UEFA Youth B Licence course.

Over the course of the three days, the representatives from each country shared the way in which they implement Football For Fitness in their respective Coach Education programme.

FAI Head of Coach Education Niall O'Regan said: "It is great to have the opportunity to welcome colleagues from six countries within UEFA to Dublin for four days of sharing our knowledge and experience in coach education and specifically in the topic of Fitness for football.

"It is always great to have the opportunity to showcase what we do in the FAI and get feedback from other countries on how we can improve and equally how they can learn from the environments we create. This event is the first of three with us hosting a Grassroots and Women’s Football event in 2022 which will have seen us sharing our approach with 15 different countries in UEFA.

"It was important for us not only to demonstrate the theory of what we do, but also how we deliver this practically and it was great to be able to bring the coaches the National Sports Campus and deliver coaching practices to really provide a comprehensive overview of coach education in the FAI currently."

UEFA Fitness for Football expert Remik Rzepka said: “The meeting organised by FAI was an amazing and professional experience in respect to fitness aspects in football. It was an opportunity to openly share experiences and ideas in a "state of art" environment provided by the FAI and will surely have a positive impact on the future of Coaches Education in the countries participating at this event.”