Phnom Penh, 06 December 2019 – Top-level coaches from the English Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (“Spurs”) were in Cambodia today to oversee the fourth and final phase of the “Training for Trainers on Grassroot Development Programme”, a pioneering initiative developed by AIA (Cambodia) Life Insurance Plc (“AIA Cambodia”) in conjunction with Spurs and the Cambodia National Competitions Committee (“CNCC”). The initiative began in February this year with the aim of improving Cambodian football at the grassroots level by equipping domestic football coaches with the skills and knowledge to develop advanced youth-training programmes. The idea for the initiative was borne out of AIA Cambodia’s staunch dedication to promoting healthier, longer, better lives.

The two Tottenham Hotspur International Development Coaches, Anton Blackwood and Aaron Tillbrook, have been in Cambodia intermittently throughout this year training over 50 of their local counterparts from the CNCC and the Cambodian Football League.

Previous phases of the initiative—held in February, June and September—saw the Cambodian coaches being taught how to create the best training environment, how to develop coaching sessions for younger age groups, how to maintain a holistic training approach, how to successfully plan a 6-week grassroots training programme and the elements of the 4-Corner Model, a signature coaching system developed by Spurs.

The final phase of the training programme—consisting of both practical and classroom sessions and taking place today at American University of Phnom Penh—focused how the coaches can link all the methodologies they have learned throughout the course to ensure they can implement structured training programs for youth teams in the future. The coaches’ practical delivery was also assessed.

Coach Anton Blackwood said: “Looking back over the past year, it’s a pleasure to see how far the coaches have come. We’ve now covered all of the core skills and methodologies, so this last session is about taking a holistic look at the training programme and advising the coaches on how best to implement the skills they’ve learned in a real-world environment.”

AIA Cambodia was able to launch the “Training for Trainers on Grassroot Development Programme” due to its role as the Global Principal Partner of Spurs. As part of this exclusive agreement, Spurs has based three of their International Development Coaches within Asia to assist AIA in helping young people develop their interest in football while helping them live healthier, longer, better lives – AIA’s core brand promise.

Pauline Teoh, CEO of AIA Cambodia, said: “As the world’s largest life insurer with a proud history of promoting participation in healthy living, we are delighted we can invite world-class coaches from Spurs, our partner, to come to Cambodia and help develop the standard of grassroots football. We are passionate about taking an active role in helping the communities we serve, and our support to the Programme is about helping improve the quality of grassroots football training and development of young talents. Though this particular training programme is coming to an end, we look forward to launching more initiatives beneficial to health and wellbeing in the future.”

About CNCC

Cambodian National Competitions Committee (“CNCC”) is a governing body of Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC). In late 2016, CNCC was established for a purpose to look after domestic football matches for a reason to improve the Hun Sen Cup and the Metfone Cambodian League, and it has His Excellency Dy Vichea as a Chairman. CNCC has 4 offices: Technical & Competition, Administration, Finance, and Marketing & Media Communications. At present, CNCC runs the Hun Sen Cup and the Metfone Cambodian League.

About AIA Cambodia

AIA (Cambodia) Life Insurance Plc (“AIA Cambodia”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of AIA Group Limited (“AIA” or “the Group”), the largest life insurer in the world by market capitalisation.

AIA has a presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific – wholly-owned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, Cambodia, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 49 per cent joint venture in India. AIA was also granted approval as preferred applicant to operate in Myanmar through a 100 per cent wholly-owned subsidiary. AIA is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$256 billion as of 30 June 2019. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia-Pacific, AIA serves the holders of more than 34 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Cambodia offers market-leading life insurance products and services to meet the growing need for financial protection and long-term savings of people in Cambodia. AIA Cambodia is committed to contributing to the Kingdom’s economic and social development over the long term, and help Cambodians live healthier, longer, better lives.

About Tottenham Hotspur

Founded in 1882, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club has a tradition of playing an entertaining and attacking style of football. The team finished fourth in the 2018/2019 Premier League season, securing UEFA Champions League qualification for a fourth year in a row and were a Champions League finalist this year for the first time in their history.

Tottenham Hotspur also has:

• A global following in excess of more than 460 million, with strong supporter bases across the UK, Europe, USA and Asia
• Over 190 Official Supporters Clubs worldwide, including a fully mobilised and active Club in Cambodia
• A newly-built state-of-the-art training centre with a new world class stadium opening soon that will sit at the heart of a major regeneration for North London
• Commercial partnerships with globally-recognised brands including AIA Group Limited (AIA), one of the world's leading providers of life insurance services, and Nike, the world’s leading sports footwear and apparel company

An award-winning Foundation that has created 3 million opportunities to help enhance the lives of people in its local community through education, employment, health and social inclusion programmes.