Football Queensland (FQ)’s commitment to strengthening club development, capacity and transparency achieved another milestone this week with the first four FQ Club Shields issued to Queensland clubs.

Announced in June and commencing with ‘advanced clubs’, the FQ Club Shield serves as a visual Gold, Silver or Bronze star representation of how clubs are actually performing and progressing based on a number of factors including extensive technical assessments undertaken by FQ’s recently established Club Development Unit.

“The FQ Club Shield initiative has been developed to improve accountability, transparency and visibility across a club’s technical performance and achievements while giving them a platform to celebrate success and growth in a meaningful way,” FQ CEO Robert Cavallucci said.

The digital design displays each club’s National Club Development Program (NCDP) classification, Skill Acquisition Phase (SAP) rating and Youth Academy rating, giving parents and players an opportunity to make informed choices, assess standards and better determine how participation fees represent value.

“We congratulate Brisbane City, Brisbane Strikers, Lions FC and Gold Coast United on completing their assessments in partnership with our FQ Club Development Unit and becoming the first clubs to receive their FQ Club Shields, with the remainder of National Premier Leagues Queensland Men’s, Women’s and Football Queensland Premier League clubs to receive theirs in the coming weeks,” Cavallucci said.

“FQ will continue to roll this initiative out across clubs as we support them in building capacity and improving technical development standards.

“Assessments are undertaken continually with star ratings provided annually. Up-to-date FQ Club Shields will be displayed on the Football Queensland website where players and parents can view them.”

The Club Development Unit assesses clubs on their planning, delivery and development outcome measures, factoring in training and game observations, assessment of coaching standards and services the clubs provide to their players.

“It is important to note that achieving any of the Gold, Silver or Bronze rating categories demonstrates considerable effort and consistent work and quality delivery by clubs’ administrators and technical staff,” FQ State Technical Director Gabor Ganczer said.

“The FQ Club Development Unit is continuing to ensure that both the players involved in these programs and the clubs themselves are well supported in their development.”