The Festivals have emerged as a key breeding ground for talent – not only players but also coaches and referees. Indeed, the most talented ones are selected for further education in the AFC’s Project Future programme.

The first week of the Festival is more focused on education with coaches and referees taking part in courses to prepare them for the matches towards the second week.

On Sunday, the Coaching ‘C’ Certificate course started, with referees due to start their sessions on Tuesday.

There will also be a head coaches workshop on February 26 and 27 before the matches start.

The AFC U14 Boys Festival of Football for West Asia, from February 21 to March 6, features representatives from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

There are four other Festivals for various regions of Asia this year. The second one of the year is for Central Asian countries in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from March 13-26.

This is followed by the East Asian Festival from April 14-27 in Bejing China. South Asia will celebrate their Festival from May 10-23 in Hamedan City, Iran while the Asean event is scheduled for May 24 to June 6 in Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian province of Sabah.

The Festivals are less about competition and more about providing an arena for talented juniors from their respective regions to play against each other and forge bonds of friendship.