Le Havre AC opens its training sessions to "street football"

We need to bring back creativity and spontaneity to the players!" This observation is made by Michael Bunel, the technical director for the U6 to U16 age groups at Le Havre AC. A club recognised as a benchmark in French youth development – ​​Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez, Steve Mandanda, Lassana Diarra, and Benjamin Mendy are all products of its academy – the coach, who has been with the club for over twenty years, continues to seek new avenues for improvement. One of his latest sources of inspiration comes from a master's program in tactical periodization he completed in Portugal. "They place great emphasis on training through play, and therefore street football, in player development," he explains. "This aligns with our thinking at the club: many professionals and the most technically gifted youngsters who arrive at the academy come from neighborhoods or backgrounds where learning happens freely and without a coach. This should give us pause for thought as a club."
 

"When we design our training sessions, we sometimes tend to over-artificialize the game to achieve our objectives"