Do you have questions about how to become a football coach? Here is everything you need to know on the topic.
What is a football coach?
A football coach plans and leads training sessions with the aim of helping players improve at playing the game. Football coaches develop the skills, motivation and fitness of football players and teams. They also organise and lead the team in competitive matches.
Depending on experience and qualifications, a football coach may work with children, young adults or adults in grassroots, amateur, semi-professional or professional teams.
How do I become a football coach?
Note: the below information is non-exhaustive and is based on learning to be a football coach with the English FA or UEFA. Courses/pathways differ depending on the national association you pursue coaching qualifications through.
In order to become a football coach, qualifications are needed. There are a variety of levels of qualification, from those needed to learn the basics of coaching for use at amateur or grassroots level with children, to qualifications required to coach adult professional footballers. To do the more advanced qualifications, it is usually necessary to first pass the lower-level courses, gain experience as a coach and work your way up the coaching pyramid. Basic first aid and safeguarding courses need to be taken, too.
Here is a list of FA/UEFA courses that make up the path to the top of the coaching pyramid:
1) Introduction to Coaching Football: a four-week, entirely online course that introduces the basics of football coaching. Completing this course is not a pre-requisite for the next course.
2) The FA Level 2 has been discontinued and has been replaced by the UEFA C Licence. This is a 60-hour course that provides an in-depth introduction to coaching at grassroots level. This is the first course it is necessary to obtain if you want to move further up the pyramid.
3) The FA Level 3 or UEFA B Licence: a season-long course that teaches age and ability-specific coaching techniques to develop coaching of players through to senior amateur level. This course will help coaches learn how to design practices to meet the specific needs of their players and improve technical, tactical and physical ability. In order to take this course, the coach must be actively coaching a competitive team.
4) The FA Level 4 or UEFA A Licence: this course will develop technical and tactical coaching to improve players and teams in 11-a-side football, with a view to preparing a team and leading them into matches. It is aimed at coaches working in or aspiring to work in the professional game. To do this course, you must be actively coaching. Priority is given to full-time coaches working in the senior professional game.
5) The FA Level 5 or UEFA Pro Licence: this is the highest level of coaching qualification available. This course is for coaches who have experience in the professional game and want to become a head coach for a professional team.
There are also qualifications specifically aimed at coaching futsal, goalkeeping and youth football. Many of the professional football coaches we have worked with at the Coaches’ Voice recommend these qualifications, citing them as a helpful part of their own development.
There are also plenty of academic qualifications that can be taken, such as those in performance analysis, sports coaching and sports science. These are particularly useful for gaining entry into the professional game, where the support staff around a manager or head coach now features significantly more roles than it used to.
What qualifications do I need to be a football coach?
This depends on the level you want to coach at. Many grassroots or amateur youth teams will require no qualifications (although they may want safeguarding and first aid courses completed), but the FA’s online Introduction to Coaching Football course is a good starting point. The higher you go – both in age and ability – the more advanced the qualifications you will need.
What coaching badges can I do?
Coaching ‘badges’ is just another – and often more commonly used – term for the above qualifications. They are open to everyone over the age of 16 who has met the prerequisites to enrol.
