Kenya, the ladder to soccer excellence.

@CarolRadull @MikeOkinyi @Nmwendwa

Kenya, the ladder to soccer excellence.
Case study of Iceland.
Iceland with a population of around 331,420 people qualified for UEFA Euro 2016 after a qualification campaign which included home and away wins over the Netherlands. The island nation has tilled the volcanic soil and reaped the benefits of high coaching standards, volume training and player preparation from the isolated ecosystem of thin, volcanic soils.
 Infrastructure
In 2000, the KSI (governing body of football in Iceland) decided to overhaul the league system and infrastructure, with a heavy emphasis on improving the facilities available to young players. As the result of a federation initiative in partnership with local authorities,7 full-sized and 4 half-sized indoor soccer fields have been built along with 25 outdoor turf fields and 150 smaller pitches.
“Now we can train on good facilities all year round. We are getting better at getting the ball and passing the ball. The overall technical ability of our players is improving. The skills are getting better,” says Arnar Gunnarsson.
 Coaching
Around the same time as the facilities initiative, KSI began hosting UEFA A and B license courses, giving local coaches opportunity to earn the highest qualifications in Europe. All the clubs in the top 2 leagues undergo a club licensing system where coach education for all their coaches is mandatory and the clubs get fined by KSI if they do not fulfill the coach education requirements. The licensing structure has done a great deal to standardize the level of instruction players receive, and in general, the more qualified coaches a country has the better that country is at soccer.
Sigurdsson says, “The level of coaching in Iceland is at a very high standard now. Every club now has a team of well-educated coaches for each of their teams, at every age group. Of course, it would be no good to have great football facilities if there weren’t qualified coaches to guide the young players.”
 Scouting and giving players chances
Iceland has a scouting system that works throughout the whole island. The uniform approach, organization, and the concerted effort to register those turning out for clubs ensures player pools are tracked and monitored. In addition to identification, a functional and thorough scouting network is in place to make sure players do not slip through the cracks.
In order for a generation of players to maximize their potential and compete, the environment in which they play has to not only been created, but it has to accommodate the lifestyle of the people. Iceland with its harsh winter conditions and isolated location in the north Atlantic has taken the initiative in creating the setting for its players to thrive in year-round.
“Promising players get their chance very early on here, and we regularly see 16-18 year olds performing in most teams in the top divisions, if they’re good enough, they play for the first team,” notes Sigurdsson.
A combination of excellent facilities and a legion of qualified coaches, along with the country’s size making it easier to mobilize all assets, have seen the nation climb 100 places in the FIFA World ranking in 5 years.
“When you learn to live the game, then you go out and some extra.”
Borrowed from, LIFE AS STRUGGLE: HOW ICELAND BECAME THE WORLD’S BEST POUND-FOR-POUND SOCCER TEAM