UEFA has publicly questioned the need for "an army of assistants on int'l duty," according to Simon Hart of the London INDEPENDENT. UEFA's technical report on Euro 2012, which was published this week, looks into whether the time has come to "limit the number of backroom staff involved in elite matches." The reports' talking points include "Overcrowding in the back room?," and "citing the surfeit of physios, fitness coaches, performance analysts and nutritionists, it asks: 'Is the management of playing staff and backroom becoming too much of a burden for the head coach? Is it appropriate that the team-behind-the-team can be more numerous than the footballers?'" The report was put together by a technical team that included Russia Coach Fabio Capello and Salzburg Global Sports Dir Gérard Houllier, as well as newly departed UEFA Technical Dir Andy Roxburgh. The report also adds that there were concerns as far back as Euro 2004 about "the proliferation of individual fitness coaches, physios and even agents in training camps" (INDEPENDENT, 9/30).
