Omar Ammache started with the U11 Boy’s team in the Central Zone when the AFS was born in the summer of 2007.
He continued to participate in club football during the winter and completed 3 consecutive summer AFS seasons. He was then selected to travel with the AFS Representative Team that toured Brazil in October 2009.
The team spent 2 weeks living in one of Brazil’s top clubs Clube Atletico Mineiro, training every day under the watchful eye of the professional coaches at the club and training with the club’s best young players; using facilities that are on par with if not better than the AIS in Canberra.
Omar impressed the coaching staff, to the extent that he was offered an opportunity to return to Brazil for a 3 month trial with Atletico, if successful, he would be offered a full scholarship that would see him become part of the club and be treated like any other Brazilian boy at the club.
When he returned home from the AFS tour, Omar received the support from his family and returned to Brazil for this trial, older brother Amir also traveled to Atletico for an international exchange program arrangement that the AFS is able to provide to young players who wish to experience this lifestyle.
With the support of his brother in Brazil, the support staff that Atltetico Mineiro provides to international players and the inspiration from his family back in Melbourne, Omar was selected into the club’s U13 Boys Squad and offered a full scholarship.
AFS correspondent Daniel Watson caught up with Omar and compiled this interview.
There has also being extensive exposure and media coverage that has followed the young Omar with SBS, channel 9, channel 10, herald sun, goal weekly, SEN and triple M all conducting stories or carrying out interviews. (see links below)
Omar is back at home at the moment and will be returning to Brazil in August where he will go into a full season of Brazilian Club Football, Cup games and tournaments against Brazil’s best clubs.
The feedback the AFS has received from the Atltetico Mineiro coaches has been extremely positive and they are very pleased with the way Omar is performing on and off the pitch.
Atletico Mineiro’s International Affairs spokesman, Gustavo Cupertino stated “Omar is really performing well, his attitude to training is fantastic” when asked how long he expected Omar to be at the club Gustavo responded “Atletico (Mineiro) is a professional club like any other around the world, players are brought into the club and released all the time in order to benefit the club. However if Omar keeps applying himself, he is at a perfect age to come into the system and go all the way to become a professional player”.
Unlike many countries in Europe, the Brazilian clubs do not need to sign the players to a contract until the age of 16, which means that Omar does not have to worry about some of the new rulings put in place by the FFA that prevent young aussies under the age of 18 from making a move abroad purely for football reasons.
Older brother Amir is part of a group of 6 boys that have also been fortunate enough to experience the life of a professional footballer in Brazil, Amir (15 y.o.) along with Mark Dangas (15 y.o.), Mark Aouad (15 y.o.), Grant Maddern (17 y.o.), Mackie Simmons (19 y.o) and Tari Klisaris (15 y.o.) have been provided the opportunity to train at Belo Horizonte’s other top flight club Cruzeiro Esporte Club.
Tari has been at Cruzeiro since February this year and is having the time of his life, training every day, studying, learning a new language, living with players from other part of the world as well as the Brazilians and enjoying the lifestyle Brazilian players experience. He will be in Brazil until November this year. Amir will join Tari in August and will also be there for an extended period.
This is all possible due to the relationship the AFS has with these two Brazilian Clubs, selected players can be offered opportunities like this and be able to measure the level they are when compared with some of the best junior players in the world and also get a taste and see if the life of a professional footballer is really suitable for them.
AFS constantly pursues opportunities with other clubs and organizations around the world to try and set up similar relationships with the aim to be able to offer more and more opportunities to young talented players.
Unfortunately in Australia there are currently no defined pathways that are able to provide an experience anywhere close to this, with A-league clubs in the infancy from a junior development perspective, the state federations not able to provide full time live-in development programs and limited opportunities only for certain players that get selected into FFA programs.
Australian Football Skool can offer a pathway that provides an opportunity for aussie kids to experience what the rest of the world is exposed to and what we are not here in Australia.
There is another tour planned to Brazil in 2011 and every year after aimed mainly at U13 boys. This is a key age for clubs to look at the aussie boys with more interest as the players have a better chance to be integrated into the Brazilian development system.
