How to Become a Football Coach

A football coach is someone that works with a football club to deliver training and manage a team. Coaches work to improve both individual performances and the team dynamic so coaching covers strategy, tactics and team building. This can be done at child or adult, grassroots, amateur or professional level.

So, if football is your passion, why not inspire others by becoming a football coach?

This blog gives you some pointers on how to become a football coach so you can teach and develop others to reach their potential and be successful.

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At Protectivity, we are one of the UK’s leading providers of insurance in the sports industry. Our Football Coaching Insurance comes with Public Liability and Professional Indemnity cover as standard, as well as additional benefits such as Personal Accident Insurance and Equipment cover.

How do I become a football coach?

Apart from a passion for the sport, you will need to be the sort of person who can really bring out the best in individuals and a team.

Ideally, you’ll need a knowledge of teaching, leadership skills, patience, the ability to teach pupils how to do something and, to remain calm in stressful situations. Plus, excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to design courses.

To become a football coach, you will also need to be qualified. As we discuss below, the level you want to coach at will dictate the level of qualifications you will need.

You might also need non-football courses and qualifications. For example, first aid and safeguarding for children and vulnerable adults are two that you might need to consider, especially as these might be football coach insurance requirements.

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What qualifications do you need to be a football coach?

The first part of this really depends on the level you want to coach at. Even before you start, you might want to give some thought to where you want to go with your coaching career. Do you want to be a community coach for example or work with a professional team?

This will help you choose the best route that allows you to follow the correct training pathway.

What courses are available?

There are a lot of academic courses that will help you with a football coaching career. Sports science and sports management courses for example, can be useful. For football specific courses, the UK’s Football Association (FA) have a pathway you can follow to take you as far as you want to go.

The FA run a series of level-based courses that can take you from coaching grassroots level football to a FA Level 5 or UEFA pro licence. This means if you have experience in the professional game, you would be qualified to be a head coach for a professional team.

There are course requirements at different levels – at the FA level 3, for example, you need to be working with a competitive team. At level 4 you need to be working with a senior professional team.

All of this said, if you are looking to work in grassroots football, you may find you can develop your skills up to level 3.

Where to start

If you have no qualification in football coaching, the FA’s Introduction to Coaching Football course might be the best first step. It is a fully online delivered course over 4 weeks, that can help you understand what coaching is, and what further skills you will need to develop.

At grassroots level, the UEFA C Licence course provides a more in-depth level introduction to football coaching.

In summary, there are qualifications and training at every level of your potential career as a football coach. Depending on your current experience (usually, the level of football you have played yourself) and your appetite, you can train to coach at the highest levels of football. The sky is your limit!

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Resource: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/sports-coach