Rafael Benítez on the importance of coach education

Earlier this month, coaches from Croatia, Lithuania, Scotland, Slovenia and Türkiye convened at UEFA HQ for our latest Pro Licence Student Exchange, supporting their on-going studies with three days of discussion, debate and practical sessions designed to take their learning to the next level.

As part of the course, the group, which also includes female coaches that received Scholarships for their Pro Licence,hears from experienced front-line coaches about their careers. This time, they were treated to an audience with Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Cup winner, Rafael Benítez, who talked in-depth about his career and how the Pro Licence gives coaches the perfect toolkit for success.

We caught up with Benítez to discuss the course and how important it is in developing the next generation of coaches.

Rafa, why get involved with UEFA's coaching programme?

"Football has given me a lot of things and I want to give something back, so it's very interesting to be a part of these courses, giving new coaches something to think about and sharing my experience and knowledge."

Benítez speaks to student coaches at UEFA HQ

What's the best thing about the UEFA Pro Licence?

"The level of knowledge you get from the Pro Licence is very good. You apply it every day of your career when you are preparing for games or need to make a decision. It's a very interesting course and it helped me a lot, it made me think and gave me a lot of ideas to implement with my teams.

And how does the Pro Licence Student Exchange help the participants?

"When you have people coming from different countries with different ideas, it is much better because you can learn from people who see things in a different way.

"As a coach, it's really important to have the motivation to be better and to learn all the time. Here with UEFA, you have everything in place, but beyond that, you must be motivated and read books, watch training sessions, talk to people. This course gives you the chance to do all that, but they have to keep doing it."

The UEFA Pro Licence Student Exchange in numbers

Launched in 2011, the Student Exchange has now involved coaching cohorts from 49 of European football's national associations, with more than 4,000 participants, including Roberto Martínez, Irene Fuhrmann, Patrick Vieira, Anna Signeul and Xabi Alonso.

Spotting tactics and trends

Rafael Benítez is also one of UEFA's team of technical observers, a group of elite coaches that analyse matches across our competitions. Their insights and observations, paired with detailed data, combine to create a powerful overview of UEFA matches and competitions.