Coaching for Performance in Football BSc (Hons)

Whether you're involved in men's or women's football, you will develop your skills and techniques for coaching success at the highest levels, for both today and tomorrow. Our on-going consultations with education professionals in the elite football community ensure that this qualification delivers relevant, contemporary, practical learning.

Our specialist and practising tutors are drawn from elite clubs to share their knowledge and expertise, helping you to achieve your aspirations. You'll learn in an innovative, supportive and challenging environment with other players and coaches, facilitated through our innovative Learning Management System, and enriched by a lively and action packed Cambridge Residential each June.

The Cambridge Residential

Each year in June, you’ll attend a residential at our Cambridge (UK) campus. Here you will meet your year group and tutors in person, attend practical learning sessions, hear from guest lecturers, take part in practical activities facilitated by renowned experts, and form meaningful life-long connections.

In your existing role as a full time coach with elite players, our course will build on your existing badges and coaching experience to reinforce the theories and concepts behind the practices you've developed so far, giving breadth to your knowledge and coaching techniques, and further enhancing your coaching style and career success.

If you work as a football coach in the community or youth football (soccer), then take a look at our Coaching for Development in Football BSc (HONS)

Are you eligible for funding support from the PFA?

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is offering a bursary, of up to £1,250 per year, to members who are studying a degree programme at University. To be recognised as a PFA member you must be a current or former professional footballer, or apprentice footballer, who paid subscription fees to the union whilst signed at a professional football club (League 2 or above). Get in touch to find out more.

Core Modules

Application of Football Data

Develop fundamental research skills which will show you how to assimilate information from various sources and how to interpret this information. You will explore concepts of research techniques which will focus on information gathering methods such as experimental and questionnaire design, sampling processes and data handling.

Technical and Tactical Principles of Coaching in Football 1

Develop your practical application of teaching and learning skills required for the coaching process and build on your understanding of skills, tactics, strategies and systems of play from previous coaching experience. Begin to develop your problem solving and communicate effectively in relevance to the coaching process.

Reflective Practice and Applied Pedagogy in Football

Explore the fundamental areas of effective coaching; namely the ability to reflect and apply pedagogical principles to enhance practice within the wider coaching environment. By the end of the module you will have developed skills and understanding to improve your professionalism as an effective sports coach operating within a particular coaching context.

Fundamentals of Sports Science in Coaching I

Learn the role of the sports scientist within football and the three specific areas of scientific support: physiological, biomechanical and nutritional. Discover how sports science support is integral to achieving optimal performance. By the end of the module you will develop your own scientific skills and the transferable skills such as IT, numeracy and communication.

Sports Psychology for the Football Coach

The role of psychology in sports performance is becoming increasingly recognised with many sports performers now employing the services of sport psychologists and using mental skills as part of their preparation for competition. In this module explore how psychological factors will influence performance and how interventions can be applied. The latest research within the topic areas will be examined and discussed and you will be encouraged to apply this research to case study scenarios and real-life situations.

Conditioning for Football (residential)

Gain the competence to condition and prepare football players of all standards and all ages in a safe and enjoyable manner. Develop your coaching skills, methods and understanding of conditioning. Address the principles of training, considering how the body ‘adapts’ to physical exertion. This response will be considered in relation to the physiological components of football (endurance, speed, strength, power, flexibility and agility). These components of football fitness will be studied both in the context of training methods but also in relation to how progression is attained. The module will include practical, hands-on activity at the Residential including practicing the many drills and exercises that are appropriate for conditioning Football players.

Talent Development Pathways in Football

The identification and development of talent is a complex and challenging process that is of central interest and concern to all sport practitioners. Explore the theory and practice of talent identification and development within the context of football/soccer. The module will consider various elements in the development of an athlete including talent identification, talent development models/frameworks, relative-age effect, peak-height velocity, early/late specialisation and principles of skill acquisition. The module highlights the importance of developing athletes holistically (physical, psychological, environmental, social) over their lifespan.

Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation

This module will introduce you to football injuries, how they need to be managed, and appropriate rehabilitation. Emphasis will be placed on strategies utilised to prevent injuries and the importance of this focus. Examine the tools employed by the coach in order to facilitate a positive, injury-free playing environment and how to adapt these to include injured players and the detrimental physiological effects of injuries to training capacities.

Football and Society

Learn a critical awareness of how broader “social” processes and a range of how “social” issues affect coaches. The purpose of this module will be to introduce you to some of the key concepts and main issues in the contemporary “social” coaching literature. In addition, a number of contemporary issues that cause debate and controversy in football will be examined from the newly acquired social theoretical perspective.

Leadership in Football

It is important that leadership within football is nurtured and developed. This module introduces you to a grounding in club administration and practice. It explores in some detail the opportunities club administration offers in the future and addresses potential challenges. There will be a strong emphasis on applying the theory to your own personal leadership with a view to enhancing leadership performance or potential for promotion to more senior management roles within the organisation.

Interpretation and Integration of Sports Science Data for Coaching

Delve into the physiological, nutritional and psychological approaches that can be adopted and utilised by both the coach and player in order to optimise performance. Emphasis will be placed on the specificity, reliability and validity of the various approaches that can be adopted in order to develop a ‘tool-box’ of scientific support options. A key emphasis of this module is the interdisciplinary nature of sports science support and how these three key areas come together to provide an integrated appraisal of the physiological, nutritional and psychological ‘state’ of the player.

Performance Analysis in Football (residential)

Understand the dynamics of a football match in terms of technical and tactical play. Examine different methods of biomechanical and notational analysis and how such analyses can be applied to a variety of coaching environments in order for you to monitor, analyse, diagnose and prescribe feedback and actions to enhance the learning and performance of the component elements of sport.

Technical and Tactical Principles of Coaching in Football II

Develop a deeper understanding of tactics in football and adjusting tactics according to the club characteristics and philosophy and within game situations. Utilise these theoretical concepts and translate these into the practical delivery of coaching sessions. Describe the philosophies of the different phases of play (in possession, out of possession, positive and negative transition) of your organisation and demonstrate advanced coaching practices to deliver coaching session to train these different phases of play.

Team Management

Build on the Leadership module and expand your understanding of the different roles required to be a team manager. Furthermore, best practice management.

Identify and analyse your core values, strengths and weaknesses and your coaching role. Based on this analysis you will develop an understanding of how to create an optimal, united and effective team environment within football and adopt techniques from other team/group performance domains.

Global Coaching Perspectives

Explore coaching perspectives across countries and sports. Guest speakers from various countries and sports present their coaching philosophy emphasising technical and tactical principles in their team and culture. Learning from diverse perspectives enables thinking outside of the box, advancing the coaching domain and acquiring additional coaching tools to use in your own training.

Optional Modules

(Subject to availability)

Advanced Coach Placement OR Undergraduate Research

Advanced Coach Placement

Independently explore aspects of your own coaching or professional practice and (via progressive reflective practice) develop or enhance personal philosophies relating to coaching for performance in football.

Identify a suitable placement setting at the end of level 5, and in doing so develop a clear placement objective at the beginning of the module with the support of an allocated University supervisor.

You will be expected to immerse yourselves within your chosen placement, gaining insight and appreciation of the diverse roles, skills and challenges associated with real-world practice in a coaching domain.

You will complete a minimum of 50 hours within a placement setting throughout this module.

Undergraduate Research Project

Select an area within Sport and Exercise Sciences or Sports Coaching and Physical Education and determine and apply ethical standards, undertake an in-depth review of the literature, and create research questions derived from the review. Furthermore this module provides an opportunity to develop, conceptualise, execute, analyse and reflect upon their own independent research.

The module is supported by 4 x 1 hour taught sessions where project management and development will be addressed. Additionally a nominal 12 hours are allocated for personal supervision during the module.

Player Scouting and Recruiting OR Physical Education and School Sport

Player Scouting and Recruiting

Learn best practices for scouting and recruiting players across countries, ages and levels. Build on knowledge and skills provided in the Talent Development Pathways in Football module at level 5.

Identify the key characteristics of potential players the club is interested in and develop the skills for long term and succession planning of the scouting strategy. This will be linked with putting in place an assessment process of the scouting and recruiting process.

Physical Education and School Sport

Examine the interface between Physical Education, school sport and football development. Many football coaches are now working within and/or alongside schools and are a young player’s first introduction to football as it often occurs within the school setting through PE lessons or on the playground.

Assessment

We'll assess you in a number of ways, recognising the practical field-based nature of your coaching role. These will include patchwork texts (smaller pieces of work, or 'patches' that are built up into a whole), presentations, blog writing, case study development, video uploads and commentary, multiple choice tests, portfolios and written assessments.

Learn from the professionals

Our specialist tutors work with elite clubs to support you by sharing their knowledge and expertise, and help you achieve your aspirations and career development.

Itay Basevitch - Association for Applied Sport Psychology

Itay is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) in the USA. Itay received his PhD from Florida State University and has worked in the UK, US and Israel as a lecturer, researcher and applied practitioner.

Itay's main research interests are in the areas of decision-making and perceptual-cognitive skills in team sports. He is specifically interested in developing measures to assess and train these skills.

Itay has vast experience working with teams and individuals at various levels. Most of his work focuses on improving decisions on the field, emphasizing the importance of attention, motivation and performing under pressurised  conditions.

Jennie Carter - Premier League Clubs

Jennie is a Performance Nutritionist who has worked with a number of professional sports teams. Jennie is currently working with Professional Football Clubs (West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers) and within Professional Cricket (Warwickshire County). Jennie is registered on the High Performance Sport & Exercise Nutrition Register. She studied Nutrition at Sheffield Hallam University (BSc Hons) and completed the International Olympic Committee Sports Nutrition Diploma. Her role is to work with sports professionals to optimise nutrition and maximise performance, so every individual can reach their potential.

Robin Russell - UEFA

Robin has significant experience in devising and implementing strategic plans in the Football Industry. Since 2005 he has worked for UEFA as a Grassroots Football Development Consultant, and before that worked for the FA in establishing FA Learning Ltd and as Assistant Director of Coaching. Robin has a MA in Recreation and Sports Sciences, and was Awarded Lifelong Contribution to Coach Education Award at the Inaugural FA Awards in 2013.

Scott Baker – Former Arsenal FC

Scott has had experience working in Arsenal FC’s Academy as a Physiotherapist. He was responsible for the treatment and rehabilitation of Arsenal academy players and assisting in the development of injury screening and prevention tools.

David Ebberson - UEFA

David brings vast experience across coaching, youth development and management to the ARU programme. Having held roles at the English Schools’ FA as International programme manager, he has supported the development of players through their transition from school level into the professional game. Prior to that, David worked for the Premiere League managing a national programme of talent development for District and County football.

David is a UEFA B coach and an FA Youth Award holder among other coaching qualifications. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Coaching Science and a BA Hons Degree in International Football Management.

Paul Bright - Premier League Clubs

Paul has been coaching in a professional capacity for 20 years and has operated as an Academy Coach at Manchester United, Everton FC and Oldham Athletic and was also the Academy Manager for FC United. Paul now resides in California and combines his roles as Technical Director for The Coaching Manual and National Technical Director for AYSO; creating curriculums and pathways for over 400,000 players and 50,000 coaches.

Paul holds the UEFA A Licence, USSF A Licence and a BSc (Hons) Degree in Football Science from Liverpool John Moores University. Paul also delivers at coaching symposiums around the world.

Our Coaching for Performance in Football BSc (Hons) degree is studied primarily online. There is a one week residential in Cambridge, UK, in June each year.

You’ll study through Canvas, our world-class online Learning Management System (LMS), which can be accessed from your phone, pc or tablet at home or on the move. Canvas provides instant access to study materials, forums, and support from tutors and classmates, as well as enabling easy submission of your assignments.

On successful completion of your studies you’ll be invited to attend a graduation ceremony on campus. If attending the ceremony in person is not possible then we’ll arrange to have your certificate sent to you.

To help you land your dream job, our Employability Service will work with you throughout your time at ARU and after you graduate.

We offer:

• careers advice, including one-to-one online and telephone appointments with our experienced advisers
• help with your CV, job searches, applications and interview preparation
• an online portal packed with useful careers resources
• our Employability Programme, which helps you hone the skills employers say they want in graduates.

Fees

The full tuition fee for this course is £18,300.

The tuition fees you pay each year for the full Coaching for Performance in Football BSc (Hons) will be £6,100. The course is studied over 3 years.

Accredited Prior Learning may reduce the tuition fees. This will be confirmed once your application has been submitted.

Please note that accommodation for the annual residential is provided by ARU. Personal travel to and from the residential venues is not included, nor any fees relating to learning delivered by external providers, such as FA Badges.

Funding

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) is offering a bursary, of up to £1,250 per year, to members who are studying a degree programme at University.  To be recognised as a PFA member you must be a current or former professional footballer, or apprentice footballer, who paid subscription fees to the union whilst signed at a professional football club (League 2 or above). Get in touch to find out more.

Government-backed part time student loans are available to cover the cost of studying this course. These are subject to eligibility and terms and conditions.

We offer payment by instalments, so you can spread the cost of studying with us.

For more information on how you fund your studies please see our funding page.