Launceston’s Aurora Stadium is staging Football Federation Tasmania’s national Skills Acquisition Phase festival, involving 180 players from the mainland and clubs from Hobart and Devonport, as state and national soccer coaches seek to identify Australia’s next generation of players.

The three-day festival features teams from Olympia, South Hobart, Nelson Eastern Suburbs, Kingborough Lions, Devonport City and FFT’s Talented Player Pathway but does not involve clubs from the host region.

FFT technical director Spencer Prior explained that Northern Rangers and Launceston City programs were being run under a Northern development centre as of this week and so had not been able to provide players.

He said the event brought  together the best under-12s and under-13s in the country to showcase their talent, adding: ‘‘This is the biggest and most exciting event we will host this year.

‘‘Our intention is to show FFA that there are other talent identification opportunities outside of nationals.’’

Making his first visit to Tasmania since becoming Football Federation Australia technical director, Eric Abrams met with some of the game’s key technical stakeholders.

‘‘It’s important for me to get a good view of the structure and what’s in place so I can analyse what we have to do to improve football, and Tasmania plays an important role in that,’’ Abrams said.

‘‘One of the great objectives is to extend the pool of young talented players, so we want more participation in lower ages. It is very important to deliver well-developed programs for players aged six, seven and eight.

‘‘A lot of people are interested in where soccer is going, and winning the Asian Cup creates a boost for the sport in Australia and we have to exploit that.’’

Abrams said the two biggest problems facing the sport were drop-out rate and getting  players at a young enough age, which he said was not as critical for other football codes.