Representatives from National Associations across Europe made the journey to Scotland earlier this month, with the Scottish FA selected to host a dedicated conference on goalkeeping. 

As part of the latest event in the UEFA Share series, representatives from Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland attended the week-long meet in Kilmarnock.

It is the first UEFA Share event that Scotland has hosted since 2023, when a Grassroots Disability Football Conference took place at Hampden Park.

The knowledge exchange event saw attendees participate in several different workshops, on topics such as current trends in goalkeeping at first team level, the evolving role of a goalkeeping coach in the girls and women's game, talent identification and the role of a goalkeeper in tactical strategy. 

Keynote speakers included UEFA Goalkeeping Experts Martin Thomas, Packie Bonner, Jim Stewart and Frans Hoek.

Candidates also heard from Graeme Smith, Goalkeeping Performance and Coach Education Manager, Scottish FA, who gave an outline of the Coach Education framework around goalkeeping in Scotland.

In addition, Kilmarnock Under-18 Head Coach Chris Burke and Goalkeeping Coach Fraser Stewart allowed the attendees the chance to observe as they carried out a 'mic'd up' training session at Rugby Park.

The conference was one of four UEFA Share events taking place across Europe to discuss goalkeeping.

Graeme Smith, Goalkeeping Performance and Coach Education Manager, Scottish FA: "The goalkeeper coach is much more than just someone who stands in the goal and kicks balls at the goalkeeper. There's a there's a whole host of things that they need to consider within the role.

"The event was about just trying to keep pushing that and trying to educate the goalkeeping coaches to get them to a level where they're competent and they can handle anything that's put their way.

"It's also good to get insights from other countries, to see how they do things. And there's always things we can review, things we can adapt.
"That's the whole point of the event, to share information and and gain knowledge in certain areas that you maybe you may want to improve."

Alessandro Danti, Goalkeeping Coach Educator, Italian Football Federation: "I enjoyed the conference so much and every time there is a UEFA Share event it's an opportunity with all the other countries to share thoughts, ideas, opinions.
"Everyday there was different topics, and every single day I found out something different from someone different. So that's the main key of this event. 

"I think every country have their own challenges, of course, but in general, the challenges are the same. So we are on the same level, and we are trying to facing all the same difficulties. So it's nice to share stuff, to achieve everything we can in our role."

Frans Hoek, former goalkeeping coach at Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and the Netherlands: "It's fantastic to see all the countries in Europe are coming together in four different places, to share information and update everyone on all the new information that is there, as we try to help all the countries become even better than they are already.

"Football is football. It doesn't matter where you are born or where you play - we give everyone the same amount of attention, so all counties have the chance to develop themselves."

Tomasz Król, Goalkeeper Coach, Polish Football Association: "This event has been a fantastic experience, speaking and sharing ideas with coaches from other countries.

"In Poland, we have developed a lot through throughout the years, and now we are ready to take the next step. For example, we are bringing in a new Goalkeeping C Licence so this week has been useful, taking some information from other countries on how they are structuring similar courses."