The football coach character in a club, whether top football or farm schools & youth football categories, is very important as it is the one who builds the team with the help of his coaching staff to achieve the sports results. The football coach must be a leader within the team helping tactically and emotionally their players, motivating them, directing matches from before, during and after encompassing all the details. The coach must be a great communicator within the locker room in order to capture his idea on the best possible way to make players with clear strategies of how to defend, such as attacking until kind of decisions to make during the match.

Many retired football players decide to continue their career as a soccer coach thinking it is a known position for them, often succeeding but there are also cases where they fail to underestimate a position like this. But there are also people who have not been professional footballers and have played a successful career as soccer coach or there are people currently also wanting to be a coach and who neither have not played football at a top level nor have even play football at all . There are football coaching courses that help you gain the specific knowledge for this position and work to develop all the skills that a technical director should have. In order tobecome a coach and lead a team during the official competitions it is essential to have the respective certificate in order to be granted the license to be able to conduct. It is important to know the different types of football coaching courses that exist, the different levels there are and also know where to perform them, their price and the competencies that you get with this kind of courses.

What is the UEFA license?

Since 1998 UEFA has recognized as a very important role that of football coach so the UEFA Coaching Convention set standards for the coach’s model in European football. UEFA’s main objective was to have similar training in all member federations for football coaches in order to raise the level of football coaches, thus making players better and thus making European football better. UEFA licenses were also created so that anyone who obtains the respective diploma can practice his profession both in his country and in any UEFA member country.

Each football federation is responsible for delivering these UEFA-endorsed courses to verify that the same content is taught in each country and professionals of the same level are taught. Today there are more than 200,000 people who hold a valid UEFA-endorsed football coach license. Licenses are valid for 3 years.

In Europe, the case of Spain is a little more complex. In this country there are 2 types of football coach courses, those issued by the Spanish federation which are endorsed by UEFA and those issued by academies that are recognized by the Spanish Ministry of Education as an official degree but UEFA does not recognize them. The problem here is that people who obtain a diploma through the courses validated by the ministry will only be able to practice their profession within Spain and not throughout Europe as allowing you to license UEFA.

Football Coaching License levels

Football & Soccer coaching courses are divided into different levels, each level complements the next level and it is necessary to pass and obtain the previous one in order to take the following that is for example, if you do not have the UEFA C diploma, you cannot start taking the UEFA B diploma. These courses are separated into tiers so that they can have differences between youth teams football coaches and high-level football coaches. UEFA licenses are divided into 4, from lowest to highest, the UEFA C Diploma, the UEFA B Diploma, the UEFA A Diploma and the UEFA PRO Diploma. In each level different and increasingly specific aspects are taught and each allows you to lead in certain categories. These levels of football coach licenses will be described below.

The UEFA C License

The UEFA C diploma is the lowest level of football coach courses validated by UEFA. At the end of this course, the diploma allows you to lead base football teams, i.e. boys’ clubs or young girls. In this course participants must work on 4 important aspects in order to achieve all the skills. The aspects are the environment, the player, the game and the base football coach so that they can plan the game, develop the players and know their behavior, motivate the players in a pleasant environment and also be able to manage and direct players of any sex, people with disabilities and children of different ages.

How to get the UEFA C license?

The minimum number of hours to be taken in the UEFA C Diploma course is a total of 60 hours divided into theoretical and practical blocks.

The UEFA B Licence

This course touches on more detail and acquire techniques for specific training for different ages and categories from youth level to amateur senior.

How to get the UEFA C license?

In order to obtain the UEFA B diploma it is essential to have obtained the UEFA C diploma and also to have completed at least 6 months of experience as a football coach before starting the course.

It also acquires knowledge of performance together and individually as well as analysis of training and game performance of the players. In this course the minimum training hours are 120 also divided into one theoretical part and the other practice.

The UEFA A Licence

In this course students acquire extensive knowledge and skills to lead and train players from an amateur team of major categories. The 4 areas studied at this level are:

• The coaching staff, where you work together with a technical staff, develop or follow a club policy until the responsibility of communication with the management of the club.
• The second is with the player and the team where the “before”, “during” and “after” the match must be planned and managed. You must motivate and generate a winning mindset in your players in addition to working on didactic activities to improve the team environment.
• The training environment in which individual and group training skills are developed as well as the creation and practice of prepared plays.
• Eventually there is the match in which they must be able to direct, analyze and even use the match as a training tool for their players.

How to get the UEFA A license?

The UEFA A diploma is the third lowest to highest level for which it is necessary to have obtained the UEFA B license diploma and also to have completed at least 1 year of experience as a football coach after obtaining the UEFA B license.

For the UEFA diploma A the minimum training hours are 180, divided into practical and theoretical blocks, having more and more practical hours.

The UEFA PRO Licence

The UEFA PRO diploma is the most advanced course for football coaches in which they learn and get everything they need to lead professional teams in both second and first division.

How to get the UEFA PRO license?

In order to be able to take the UEFA PRO Diploma it is essential to have obtained the UEFA A license and also to have participated at least 1 year as an assistant coach in a professional team or to have been a youth football coach in the elite or at the senior amateur level for a year as well. This license allows any graduate to be a top-rated football coach both in their country and in different countries in Europe, until it can be approved by the other federations to also lead in countries outside the continent.

With the diploma, the graduate must be able to lead and manage a professional football team and master certain aspects within the areas of professional coach, player and team, training environment and match. The minimum training hours for the UEFA PRO Diploma is 360 divided this time into three blocks, one practical, one theoretical and one of final project in which they must demonstrate all the necessary skills to be able to lead in high-level teams.

Other Football Coaching Courses and Licenses

In addition to football coaching courses, there are also licenses for the development of youth divisions, specific courses for goalkeeper coaches and also for futsal (football 5-a-side) which will be described below.

The Youth B an Elite Youth A Diploma

One of UEFA’s main objectives is the development of young talents so they also decided to include specialized licenses for coaches currently working in youth categories.

Types of Youth Licenses

There are two different youth licenses:

1. The first is Youth B for which students must have a valid UEFA B license.
2. The second is the Elite Youth A for which they must hold Youth B license or have the valid UEFA A license the time they want to start the course.

These courses train future specialists in the development of young talent to move from base football or amateur football to professional football. The minimum training hours for Youth B leave are 60 and in the case of youth A Elite leave, the minimum number of training hours is 120.

The UEFA Goalkeeper B and A Diploma

As the goalkeeper position is totally different from any other position, they have coaches specific to the position so UEFA also decided to include two licenses for goalkeeper coaches, B and A so participants acquire all the knowledge and skills to be able to train high-level goalkeepers and with license A you can already train goalkeepers of all ages in professional football.

In order to participate in these courses, students must have obtained the UEFA C license of valid football coach or some national certificate of goalkeeper training. In addition, in order to obtain the A license, it is essential that you have completed the course of license B either as a trainer or as a goalkeeper coach but that you are valid. 60 hours are the minimum training to obtain the UEFA goalkeeper coach B license and 120 hours the minimum to obtain the UEFA A goalkeeper coach license.

The UEFA Futsal B Diploma

The UEFA futsal license is also a specific one as this sport, unlike football, is played with fewer players, indoors, with other rules even with another ball. To be a coach of a futsal team it is necessary to obtain the only license available to UEFA which is the Futsal B license in which they train people in specific aspects such as training, tactics and rules of this sport.

In order to participate in the futsal B license courses it is necessary to have the UEFA C license of football coach and that it is valid or some national certificate of futsal coach. The minimum training hours are 120 which are divided into practical and theoretical blocks.

How much does a Football Coaching Course cost?

The cost of any football coaching course will depend mainly on the level you want to take because as the license levels rise, the training hours increase and therefore the cost of the course increases. The cost differences between countries are very similar as they are all validated by UEFA and thus also have the same quality of courses and teaching in all countries belonging to this federation.

To get a rough idea of the prices of these courses:

How much does it cost the UEFA C license?

In order to obtain the UEFA C license the cost is for 225 euros.

How much does it coste the UEFA B license?

The course for the UEFA B diploma is around 1,000 euros and

How much does it cost the UEFA A license?

The course for the UEFA A license is around 1,250 euros.

Football Coach Skills

At the end of the football coaching courses, people come out with skills, knowledge and abilities that will help him/her practice the profession on the best possible way. Here are some of the competencies you get with football coaching courses:

• Ability to communicate your ideas to the team.

• Be a leader within the team.

• Extensive knowledge of football technique and tactics.

• Plan workouts, matches, recoveries.

• Empathy.

• Be able to motivate and lift players.

• Decision making at match times.

• Among many others.