Coach educators course in Barcelona

"The Art of Football" is the theme of the 12th UEFA Course for Coach Educators, which begins on Monday in Barcelona.

Five-day meeting
Members of various UEFA committees involved in the football development sector will be joined by representatives of UEFA’s 51 member associations and a number of distinguished guests for the five-day gathering in Catalonia, Spain.

Football greats
The guests include former football greats such as Eusébio (Portugal), Hansi Müller (Germany) and Gabriel Calderón (Argentina) – the latter are both football ambassadors for UEFA in the technical and grassroots sector – and vastly experienced English coach Roy Hodgson.

Appealing football
Discussions will centre on a wide variety of topics related to coaching and the education of coaches – a key element of UEFA’s football development activities – with emphasis placed on helping to train coaches to produce appealing football.

Appropriate training
"If the quality of the art of our game and, consequently, its attractiveness are to survive, coaches must be prepared and trained appropriately for their job," says UEFA President Lennart Johansson. "Coach education is the key in this respect, and it must be kept up to date."

Ongoing development
"UEFA aims to contribute to the ongoing further development of coach education in its member associations. We are delighted that renowned speakers and personalities will be contributing to this special course," he adds.

Club coach
On Tuesday, Roy Hodgson, who has coached the Swiss national team as well as top club sides in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, England and Denmark, will tell delegates about the various aspects involved in working as a football club coach.

Technical sessions
On the technical front, in theoretical and practical sessions, UEFA Technical Director Andy Roxburgh will deal with the art of combination play, former AFC Ajax and current FC Barcelona goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek will look at the art of goalkeepers' distribution, and Belgian FA coach education director Frans Masson will examine zonal defence. 

Youth development
Another practical session will see Roy Hodgson focussing on attacking play, while Spanish FA coaches Juan Santisteban and Seaz Iñaki Ruiz – who have brought considerable success to Spain at international youth level – will highlight the theme of youth development.

Teaching talents
"Teaching talents" is the title of the presentation by Wim Koevermans, from the Dutch FA, and a general discussion session will centre on methods of match observation.