Leadership and high-performance environments in focus at latest UEFA Pro licence coaching exchange
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
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Prominent coaches from the women's game among students pursuing UEFA's top qualification.
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UEFA's latest Pro licence student exchange event gave coaches from Armenia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia and Moldova the chance to learn from some of the game's top figures.
The event also welcomed a group of female coaches who have already obtained their Pro licence, European football's highest qualification, to trade ideas and perspectives with their colleagues.
As well as learning from industry experts on leadership and winning behaviours, students also heard firsthand from experienced coaches including David Moyes, Anna Signeul, Aitor Karanka and Britta Carlson.
Carlson has been highly successful as a player and a coach, winning UEFA Women's EURO and the Women's Champions League in both roles, most recently working as Germany's assistant coach under Marina Voss-Tecklenburg and Horst Hrubesch. She stressed the importance of building a high-performance environment in which players can perform at their best, and explained how during her time at Wolfsburg, they used their scouting network to identify high-potential players to strengthen their squad.
Among the students were current women's national team head coaches from Armenia (Artik Adamyan), Kazakhstan (Madiyar Kembilov) and Moldova (Ghenadie Pusca).
Nik Chamberlain is head coach at Icelandic club Breidablik, who competed in this season's UEFA Women's Champions League. "I've been coaching women's football for 17 years and am 18 months into studying for my Pro licence – the overall experience at the exchange is eye-opening, and we are constantly pushed outside of our comfort zone," he said.
"It's good to hear from people working in the women's game and great to be able to pick the brains of the female coaches that are here, compare and contrast our experiences and develop a bit of a network," he added.
UEFA invites selected female Pro licence holders from across Europe to each edition of the student exchange initiative. These attendees have previously benefited from receiving scholarships through the UEFA Coach Development Programme for Women, opening the door to ambitious coaches who want to make their mark on the game.
Former Italy striker Rita Guarino was head coach with Juventus and Inter, and believes being able to join the student exchange programme offers extra value.
"It's important to understand different ideas because football changes very fast so you need to be able to adapt to every situation," Guarino said. "It's fantastic to have this opportunity to be here and it's a great experience if you want to coach at a high level. This support from UEFA is a plus and is really helpful in giving more opportunities to female coaches."
About the UEFA Pro licence student exchange
Now in its 14th season, the programme's 4,000 former students include Xabi Alonso, Roberto Martínez, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Patrick Vieira.
The three-day exchange offers a modern, collaborative learning environment for Pro licence students from different footballing backgrounds, adding value to their studies through discussion, debate and presentations that focus on a wide range of topics, including: leadership, decision-making, characteristics of serial winning coaches, creating a high-performance environment and the latest technical trends in men’s and women’s elite competitions.