World Cup analysis in St Petersburg

The coaches and technical staff of the European national teams will arrive in St Petersburg today to participate in the second post 2014 FIFA World Cup technical conference, which will be held in the city on 16 and 17 September. The first was successfully staged last week in Panama for member associations from CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.

Coming a few months after the iconic Maracana witnessed Germany's fourth FIFA World Cup win, this represents a perfect moment to reflect on and discuss technical aspects of the 20th edition of FIFA's flagship event with professionals from all over the world. The two-day sessions are dedicated to reviewing technical areas, plus refereeing, health and doping in order to see how the game can be further improved for the benefit of technical teams in all 209 [FIFA] member associations.

The delegates will be provided with analysis of the technical side of the tournament and trends in modern football by the head of FIFA's technical study group, Gérard Houllier, presentations by FIFA's chief medical officer Professor Dr Jiří Dvořák and FIFA's and UEFA's heads of refereeing, Massimo Busacca and Pierluigi Collina respectively. Each session will be followed by discussions with those on the 'front line' and the action points will then come directly from the ideas of coaches and technical directors. Also taking to the stage will be World Cup-winning coach Joachim Löw, who will share what it takes to lead a team to glory.

The cycle of post-2014 World Cup conferences jointly organised by FIFA and the respective confederations will continue in Cairo (CAF, 30 September-1 October) and conclude in Kuala Lumpur (AFC and OFC, 29-31 October). The results of the four conferences will be shared along with the technical report by FIFA's technical study group with the 209 [FIFA] member associations as an educational and inspirational tool for technical staff within the football community.