Handbook

for Technical
Directors
Technical development is paramount in
building the future of football, and as such,
it is one of the most important areas in any
football association. It is a long-term process,
whereby vision, perseverance, stability and
continuity are required if results are to be
achieved. The technical director plays a key role
in this by defining and leading the country’s
national technical development programme.
He/she is for the technical side what the
general secretary is for the management side,
and the main activities and responsibilities
focus on increasing the number of players,
developing youth and women’s football,
and furthering coach education, as well
as research and documentation. With the
introduction of FIFA’s new development
programme, Forward 2.0, the position of
member association technical director has
become even more important for the analysis,
planning, implementation and monitoring of
various projects. The main objective of this
handbook is to assist technical directors in the
handling of daily business. It does not claim
to be complete, but it does provide the reader With the development of football being
with guidance and methodologies for self- at the heart of FIFA’s mission, it is
learning and self-development. I hope that crucial that every member association’s
this handbook will assist all technical directors potential is maximised in this area.
in their daily business and contribute to the
further development of football worldwide. Sustainable development is a long-term
approach and requires dedication,
confidence and patience, together
Gianni Infantino with the continuity of roles. Technical
FIFA President directors define and run their country’s
national technical development
programmes and their position is,
in its own way, as important to the
organisation as that of the general
secretary.

Arsène Wenger
Chief of Global Football
Development
Introduction

This handbook is the product of the work conducted by FIFA in the field of technical
development and education in recent years. The drafting process involved a panel composed
of technical directors (TDs) and technical development and technical leadership experts from
every continent, who brought with them a wealth of knowledge derived from constant work
in the field. This handbook is aimed at TDs and senior staff in the technical department of
football associations.

Scope of the handbook How to use the handbook

The primary aim of the handbook is to The Handbook for Technical Directors is
provide a tool to enable self-learning currently available in paper or electronic format
and self development. The document does (FIFA Training Centre). It has been conceived as
not aim to be complete or to answer all the a practical tool which can be consulted when
questions and problems that might arise in needed through an easy-to-use reference
every member association (MA) worldwide. table. For instance, TDs who are primarily
Instead, it proposes a set of methodologies of interested in establishing a monitoring and
proven value and a number of cross references evaluation process can easily refer to Chapter
(related to FIFA material and other sources) 8 and understand its content without first
that will provide the reader with relevant having to read the preceding chapters.
guidance and help him/her find what he/she
is looking for. It can, however, also be read from start to
finish and used to learn more about the
A secondary aim of this handbook is to subject as a whole as part of a systematic
provide learning material for FIFA’s training learning approach. While this might require
sessions and seminars that specifically target more time, it provides a sound foundation to
TDs. The handbook can be used during the further delve into the topic.
preparation, execution and follow-up of
courses and events, together with related The handbook is a resource that can be used
PowerPoint presentations and specific to identify your needs and as such, should be
material. Its design allows TDs to adapt it and adapted by adding to it and annotating it (see
turn it into a bespoke handbook for their own the toolboxes at the end of each chapter) to
development by adding information resources relate to your own development within the
that relate to them in their own context. context of your own role.

In addition, it provides an overall framework

for other technical manuals that have been
developed by FIFA in the past and that
embrace virtually all aspects of the technical
domain (women’s football, grassroots, youth
football, etc.).

Although the definition of standards for

technical development is not a goal of
the handbook, the creation of common We encourage you all to
patterns among different MAs is one of read Chapter 9 to support your
the expected outcomes, thus leading to a professional growth as TD.
more homogeneous approach to football
development in any given region in the world.

2 TD Handbook
 Content of the handbook
The handbook is composed of nine chapters. Chapters 5, 6, 7 and 8 are strongly linked with
each other as they relate to the four phases of the project cycle. At the end of these chapters,
you can find an example that further explains the content of each chapter in a practical way
and helps put the theory into an everyday context. At the end of each chapter, there is a
toolbox related to your professional growth and resources to support your development.

Role and responsibilities of the TD

1 This chapter defines the role of the TD and his/her profile in a nutshell. It also introduces the
concept of a long-term development plan that is elaborated on in Chapter 6.

The position of the TD within the member association

2 This chapter identifies the key aspects related to the TD’s hierarchical position within the
football association, in particular: the position in the organisation chart, interaction with
other departments and relations with elected members.

Technical department set-up

3 This chapter explains the managerial functions of the TD vis-à-vis the technical department,
as well as his/her human resources, financial management and logistics responsibilities.

External contacts and relations

4 This chapter contains an analysis of the relations between the TD and stakeholders, such as
coaches, clubs, regional associations/leagues, government authorities and other institutions.
It also provides some basic information about the working relations with FIFA and its
development department.

Analysis of the football environment

5 This chapter focuses on the first step of the project cycle (analysis) by identifying the key
elements to analyse the football environment within a given country and the factors that
have to be taken into account.

Strategy and planning

6 This chapter focuses on the strategic stages of the project cycle, particularly the definition of
the long-term strategy (four years) and the yearly action plan.

Implementation (domains of activities)

7 This chapter analyses the implementation phase and contains a detailed list of all aspects
of the TD’s work. Priority is given to education, coaching licences, youth national teams,
academies and development competitions.

Monitoring and evaluation

8 This chapter deals with the last step of the project cycle: assessment and monitoring. It
analyses short-, mid- and long-term control mechanisms and explains the supervisory role of
standing committees.

How to grow professionally

9 This chapter focuses on the need for the TD to constantly develop his/her knowledge and
skills through self-learning, peer-to-peer contacts and formal education.

3 TD Handbook
Contents
Summary

4 TD Handbook
Introduction 2

1. National football strategy and technical development 6

2. The position of technical director within the member association 22

2.1 The organisational chart of the general secretariat 24
2.2 The relationship between the general secretary and technical director 26
2.3 The relationship between the senior national team coach and the technical director 27
2.4 The relationship between the technical director and the youth and women’s
football national coaches 27
2.5 The technical director’s interactions with other departments 28
2.6 Relations with elected members 35

3. Technical set-up in a member association 42

3.1 Technical department structure 44
3.2 Human resource management 47
3.3 Financial responsibilities 54
3.4 Logistics 57

4. External contacts and relations 62

4.1 Contact with clubs 65
4.2 Contact with regional associations and leagues 69
4.3 Contact with government and local authorities 70
4.4 Universities and research centres 72
4.5 Relations with other institutions 73

5. Analysis of the football environment 82

5.1 Analysis of different football levels 86
5.2 Type of analysis 88
5.3 Analytical tools 94
5.4 The outcome of the analysis 100
5.5 Practical example 102

6. Long-term planning 106

6.1 The need to prioritise 108
6.2 Priorities, objectives and sub-objectives 109
6.3 Approval of technical projects 111
6.4 Action plans 111
6.5 Yearly action plan 112

7. Implementation 120

8. Monitoring and evaluation 128

8.1 Monitoring implementation 130
8.2 Evaluation 132
8.3 Monitoring grassroots 134
8.4 Monitoring coach education programmes and coaching licences 136
8.5 Monitoring youth football development 137
8.6 Monitoring Women's Football 139
8.7 The supervisory role of the committees and management responsibilities 140

9. How to grow professionally 144

5 TD Handbook
 1
NATIONAL
FOOTBALL
STRATEGY AND
TECHNICAL
DEVELOPMENT
6 TD Handbook
1. National football strategy
and technical development
Every member association (MA) is unique – this is a principle of FIFA development – and
every MA has to find its own way to respect the past and the reality of football in its
country, the independence of clubs, regional associations and other stakeholders.

Typically, the association’s executive committee should be the key driver of the whole
process by approving an overall strategic plan. It is therefore critical that the association’s
president, general secretary (GS) and technical director (TD), for the technical side of the
strategy, be fully involved in the planning process.

If a strategy or a long-term development plan (LTDP) already exists, it is essential for the
TD to understand the strategic plan and the process the MA has gone through to develop
it. He/she should take time to understand and discuss the plan with the GS to be fully
informed. This will be vital in order to develop a playing and coaching philosophy or other
technical programmes for the future.

FIFA – development of the game

FIFA, with its responsibility towards its members and with its statutory obligations, has to
contribute to football development through its MAs. The main objectives are (article 2 of
the FIFA Statutes):
A. to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its
unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values, particularly through youth and
development programmes;

B. to organise its own international competitions;

C. to draw up regulations and provisions governing the game of football and related
matters, and to ensure their enforcement;

D. to control every type of association football by taking appropriate steps to prevent

infringements of the Statutes, regulations or decisions of FIFA or of the Laws of the Game;

E. to use its efforts to ensure that the game of football is available to and resourced for
all who wish to participate, regardless of gender or age;

F. to promote the development of women’s football and the full participation of women
at all levels of football governance; and

G. to promote integrity, ethics and fair play with a view to preventing all methods or practices,
such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardise the integrity
of matches, competitions, players, officials and member associations or give rise to
abuse of association football.

These basic objectives are the foundations for all FIFA’s activities, but it is the game of football
that remains at the very heart of the FIFA development programmes. FIFA’s main responsibility is
to create a framework to govern relations between football’s many stakeholders, to define the
macrostructures of world football, and to support and guide these structures and stakeholders
so that they can better manage and develop their respective aspects of the game.

7 TD Handbook
FIFA Capacity-Building Programme
FIFA will proactively focus on building capacity for those within MAs who have a key
role in driving football development. The main objective of this initiative is to bring MAs
into a better position to have courses conducted by their own educators (trained by FIFA
and/or the confederations). FIFA’s programme on technical capacity-building is based
on one important cornerstone: offering support in an efficient manner, tailored to the
needs of each MA. In order to introduce this new approach, FIFA has put together a
comprehensive catalogue of activities and services from grassroots to elite level, for both
men’s and women’s football.

The process is based on a three-step approach:

• regional activities for the MAs’ technical leaders (TDs, heads of coaching, grassroots
football and women’s football) and coach educators;
• individual consultancy, guidance and mentorship will be available to meet the specific
needs of these technical leaders and coach educators; and
• courses for special topics, such as goalkeeping, futsal and beach soccer.

Strategic planning
The importance of strategic planning for any FIFA member association is clearly related
to three of the MA’s main functions:

• to govern football within its territory (meeting the statutory objectives of

the association: to improve, promote, govern and control football, and to
protect the game);
• to develop football within its territory (national technical direction,
development of participation and performance in football); and
• to administer football within its territory (financing and managing
the association’s activities, financial management, development of
administrative and commercial activities).

The growth of football as a sport – in addition to as an event and

leisure activity and as a hub of commercial activity – in recent
decades has made the day-to-day work of FIFA’s MAs even
more complex. MAs now have to manage their own
systems and governance reforms, just like any other company
or organisation. A strategy or an LTDP are very important tools to
achieve effective results in football development.

In simple terms, strategic planning involves determining goals and developing

plans to achieve them.

8 TD Handbook
A strategy or an LTDP will define the resources (funds and staff) to manage
association’s ambitions and provide a clear circumstances or pursue opportunities;
road map on how to reach them, having and whether there is enough time,
considered which resources are needed, having considered all other activities
and when and how to use them. Much like to be performed, to pursue these new
the importance of building plans for new openings.
buildings, in developing a strategic plan, the
MA will possess an essential management • As a road map, the MA’s development
tool enabling all areas of the organisation plan is the groundwork and the point of
to improve. It will become the association’s orientation for all other projects, such as for
blueprint for success. technical development, administration,
marketing and sponsorship, finance and
A strategy is normally headed by an communication.
organisation’s most senior executives,
with emphasis placed on determining the • A development plan can also be
company’s mission, vision and overarching used as a valuable communication
objectives. Strategic planning is also an tool, demonstrating to the world
ongoing process, where management the association’s ambition, focus and
continuously reallocates resources to capability.
initiatives that need to be prioritised.
• Ultimately, it will provide a window
An LTDP is about establishing the process by into the association, presenting the
which the strategic plan will be achieved. It is association as professional, focused,
about aligning your project to fit in with your aware of its environment and role, with
strategic goals and coordinating departments a clearly defined vision and goals, and an
so that they are in sync and ready to hit the understanding of how to achieve them.
organisation’s targets. In contrast to strategic
planning, long-term planning is normally If managed properly, the process of
given a time frame, often over five years, engaging in planning is very beneficial to
depending on the strategic objective it is the organisation in itself. Indeed, it will
trying to accomplish. reinforce and strengthen the understanding
of the association’s environment, challenges,
Planning in both ways has to explain what opportunities, stakeholders and resources.
an MA wants to achieve in football in the This “baseline” of information is critical
country and how to get there (vision, mission, for enhancing the association’s overall
goals and plans for implementation). It is a management ability.
definition of the football identity and a
common ground for all stakeholders in the To ensure improvement in this area, FIFA
MA. obliges all MAs to develop a strategy or an
LTDP and to use this as the basis of their
• As a decision-making tool, it will work. A contract of agreed objectives, setting
help to evaluate: circumstances and out every association’s development plans
opportunities against its vision and over two to four years, has to be approved
goals; how to navigate and manage by the FIFA Development Committee. This
circumstances so that they do not impact condition is the first criterion to be supported
the association’s long-term health; by the FIFA Forward football development
whether the association has the necessary programme.

9 TD Handbook
 Every MA is unique. The strategic plans must always be essentially individual and specific. That
means that, in your planning process, you should not “copy and paste” what other MAs have
done – but rather you should develop your own! There are huge risks in trying to implement
a plan based on copying and pasting someone else’s, rather than one that is tailor-made for
your MA and more suitable for the country’s specific circumstances.
Long-term planning is, first of all, a team effort which should not be done in isolation or
individually. The involvement of key people within your association is the best guarantee
that you will take into account all critical aspects for the successful development of your
organisation. Moreover, the association’s relationship with stakeholders will be strengthened
if they feel they have been involved in developing the strategic plan. Involving stakeholders
signals to them their value for development. The success of the strategic plan requires every
person and group to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in its creation,
planning and implementation, as illustrated below:

• Set long-term strategic direction and approval of development

Executive
plan
committee
• Monitoring of performance against strategy

Standing • Supporting the planning process with specialised competency

committees (statutes, finance, marketing, communication)

• Setting the mission and vision of the association

President • Consultation of stakeholders
• Supervision of strategic process and implementation

• Project manager for the complete planning process

• Consultation of stakeholders
General secretary (GS)
• Support for implementation and monitoring the plan
• Liaison between executive committee and administration

• Consultation of technical stakeholders – grassroots to elite

• Defining and defending the technical development plan(s)
Technical director (TD) • Playing and coaching philosophy
• Implementation and leadership of technical development plan(s)
• Reporting the GS on the progress of the strategic plan

• Development and implementation of technical action plans

Technical
• Monitoring and evaluating departmental plans
department staff
• Reporting the TD on the progress of plans

The GS and TD play key roles in the planning process. The GS is responsible for supporting
and monitoring the development of the national football strategy, its implementation and
evaluation. Therefore, he/she is a “builder” and in charge of recruiting and leading the MA
staff and allocating resources. The TD must define and lead the national technical development
programmes, especially a playing and coaching philosophy. He/she is the “architect” and
shapes the future of football in the country. It is important for both to know what their role is
during the different steps. For more details, see chapters 5 to 8.

10 TD Handbook
Advancing an association’s development plan
Every MA needs a strategic plan, but for the development of a plan, it is very important
and helpful to know how to deal with the process of developing an LTDP before having a
final version. FIFA suggests that all MAs develop a strategic plan based on the project cycle
concept composed of four interrelated phases: situation analysis, strategy, implementation
and monitoring.

Situation analysis
Where are we now?

Monitoring Strategy
Are we getting there? Where do we want to be?

Implementation
How do we get there?

The following text illustrates these significant steps. They are all central to ensuring that a
development plan is both ambitious and achievable. Strategic plans are often not precise
enough about implementation and monitoring, especially about actions and (financial)
resources. They then have to lead to more concrete programmes; if not, they will not be
realised.

The first important step in developing an association’s strategic plan involves a comprehensive
review of its environment, capabilities, competition, opportunities and challenges.

Such analysis provides the MA with key

information related to:

• how football was developed in the

country;
• the stakeholders’ expectations;
• how your MA is perceived internally and
externally;
• the specific strengths and weaknesses of
your key competitors;
• what opportunities are, or will become,
present for your management to exploit;
• any risks or threats which will require
your attention; and
• the level and capabilities of your
management and staff.

11 TD Handbook
Situation analysis
Where are we now?

This initial analysis and the information gathered will represent the baseline of your
association’s long-term strategy and the starting point for the following steps, which include
the development of your vision, mission, values, goals, objectives, and action plans.

By conducting such analysis, the MA will be able to develop a long-term vision and goals,
which are:

• realistic and achievable, having considered its existing position, resources and capabilities;
• supported by stakeholders; and
• carefully and broadly studied.

The next step involves using the information gathered in the preceding phase to help to
develop and formulate a long-term vision with strategic goals and specific objectives because
when one has not decided where to go and how, one has little chance of getting there.

Strategy
Where do we want to be?

Strategic goals are long-term targets to which goals, without which it would be impossible
resources are directed. The association’s to implement plans and measure your
objectives are strategic goals translated into association’s performance against its strategy.
specific milestones. They are commonly also
referred to as “sub-goals”. To ensure that the The third step involves formulating the tactics
objectives can be achieved by management that will lead to the MA achieving its strategic
and staff as part of their day-to-day activities, goals. These tactics take the form of action
the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, plans, breaking down the goals and objectives
realistic, timely) principle should be applied into tasks which can be performed on a
for their development. day-to-day basis by management and staff.
Budgets for operations are also formulated
These fundamental elements will form the in this step. Importantly, by incorporating the
basis of the association’s direction and focus, budget process into the strategic planning
how the MA will make decisions in the process, the association can begin to ascertain
future, how it will conduct itself and how it the financial impact of long-term goals and
should not. They will act as a road map for their implementation.
the achievement of the vision and strategic

12 TD Handbook
Implementation
How do we get there?

As the objectives act as a road map for the To ensure that the strategic plan is utilised
achievement of the association’s vision and as a dynamic management tool and not just
goals, the action plans will do the same for confined to a shelf, through its GS and senior
the objectives set within the association, staff, the association must continually use it
turning them into operational activities and as a guide and road map for activities.
tasks which the MA staff can work towards
accomplishing. The monitoring and evaluation functions
are directly related to the previous phases
Having now developed action plans and of the project cycle and without continual
formulated budgets, they must be shared monitoring of the implementation, the plan
among all staff within all departments is nothing more than a static document. A
to ensure their effective implementation. strategy has to begin with the end goal in
Furthermore, action plans should also mind.
be incorporated into each employee’s
job description and performance review,
especially for senior management.

Monitoring
Are we getting there?

This step involves the ability to meet regularly monthly basis. However, it is not uncommon
to critically scrutinise the organisation’s for more sophisticated and well-resourced
performance against the objectives and associations to hold monitoring meetings
action plans formulated. As such, the quarterly. It is the responsibility of the GS to
association’s executive committee and most ensure that each department carries out its
senior personnel, i.e. its GS and TD, must strategic tasks and activities on schedule. This
continually monitor the progress of action exercise ensures that strategic intent is a core
plans and their execution by the people focus of the association, that communication
responsible for completing them. and interaction regarding the strategy are
strong, and that your association’s strategic
Typically, the association should monitor the goals are always relevant.
implementation of the strategic plan on a

13 TD Handbook
Examples of MA football strategies
Once again, each country’s football environment is unique and planning needs to be tailored
to it. As we all know, as soon as new leadership is in place, plans can change. It is important
to remember that the publication of a beautiful strategic plan document, with nice colourful
diagrams and images, does not necessarily mean that the plan will be embraced and imple-
mented. The idea of the following good examples is to stimulate ideas and creative thinking,
but certainly not for them to be copied wholesale.

AIFF Strategic Plan All India

2019-2022 Football Federation (AIFF)

SAFA Vision 2022 – South African

Football Association (SAFA)
detailed summary

A working plan to develop St Lucia

Football Association (SLFA)
a national strategy 2014

The importance of technical development

Technical development is possibly the most important domain of activity in every MA be-
cause it shapes the future of football in the country. All the other elements (statutes and
governance, management and human resources, communication and marketing, finances
and auditing) are means to generate overall efficiency for the benefit of football.

Based on the strategic plan (see above), the TD proposes to the GS, the president and eventually
to the executive committee a long-term vision and develops a technical development plan over
several years in order to improve the level of and participation in the game within the country
and achieve identified targets on and off the pitch. This implies both a sense of purpose (reach
the sky) and a very realistic approach (feet well planted on the ground). It also implies the
understanding of all interconnected variables that are related to football development.

These projects are complex. If we focus, for example, on a project to develop a new elite U-17
league, we will soon realise that this leads to several other questions:

• Where will the players come from?

• Who will recruit and select them?
• Where will they play once they turn 18 or 19?
• Who will be in charge of coaching/refereeing them?
• Are the coaches/referees qualified?
• Are there sufficient instructors to provide coaches with the right training?
• Are there clubs that can provide the right framework for the players to develop in the
ideal way?
• What facilities can be used?
• Who will ensure that there is no age-cheating?

14 TD Handbook
These are many variables that have to be taken into account when developing a vision for the
future. The graphical representation below, as a double pyramid, is a simplified description
of the logical links that exist between different levels and objectives for men’s and women’s
football and even other football disciplines, such as futsal and beach soccer.

Structure of national football

Amateur Professional
football football
STAKEHOLDERS

STAKEHOLDERS
Elite youth football
(U-3 to U-18)
Regional
youth Academies/
football centres of
excellence

Grassroots
football (6-12)

Coaches, instructors and referees

15 TD Handbook
The LTDP will identify the way in which the different steps can be achieved over a period of
years and be mutually reinforced. For instance, everybody knows that youth football is an
essential component for any long-term development plan, because the talented young players
of today will be the top players of tomorrow and the not-so-talented ones will hopefully
support football in the MA as amateur players, youth coaches, referees or fans. It takes all
these pieces (and many more) to achieve a coherent development framework. An LTDP is
therefore an integrated set of activities that follow a coherent approach and that reinforce
each other over the long term.

The England DNA by The FA is a perfect example of such a

technical football development strategy:

HOW WE HOW WE
PLAY SUPPORT

THE
HOW WE WHO FUTURE
COACH WE ARE ENGLAND
PLAYER

It is, however, important that the TD always keep in mind, when defining priorities and the
specific approaches to be adopted, the complex interplay of factors that constitute the basis
for football development. Like solving a jigsaw puzzle, it is not only important to put two
pieces together, but also to understand how they fit into the bigger picture.

The role and responsibility of the TD

The TD is the person in charge of the national technical development programmes, thus
shaping the future of football in the MA. He/she is likewise in charge of the implementation
of all the activities related to technical development, as well as their control, monitoring and
assessment. In other words, he/she is for the technical side what the GS is for the manage-
ment side.

He/she has to know:

• Where will the players come from?
• Who will recruit and select them?
• Where will they play once they turn 18 or 19?
• Who will be in charge of coaching/refereeing them?
• Are the coaches/referees qualified?
• Are there sufficient instructors to provide coaches with the right training?
• Are there clubs that can provide the right framework for the players to develop in the
ideal way?
• What facilities can be used?
• Who will ensure that there is no age-cheating?

16 TD Handbook
Among the several domains that will be analysed in this handbook – particularly in Chapter
7 – the TD has a number of key responsibilities for both men’s and women’s football.

MASS FOOTBALL
(PARTICIPATION)
• To encourage the expansion of football and promote participation in the game by as many
people as possible (from grassroots to adult for men and women);
• To champion football’s educational values;
• To encourage the expansion of women’s football, beach soccer and futsal;
• To adapt the forms of organisation of competitions to age categories, time of the season,
sports infrastructures, skill level, etc.

EDUCATION FOR
COACHES AND REFEREES
• To organise courses for coaches, referees and relevant educators;
• To define a coach licence system (Pro, A, B, C, D) in line with the needs of the association
and the parameters established by the confederation;
• To make sure that clubs observe their obligation to use qualified/certified coaches (linked
to the MA’s club licensing system).

ELITE FOOTBALL
(SENIOR + YOUTH)
• To shape the future of top-level football in the country and to work to improve the
standard of play in national competitions;
• To reinforce elite youth competitions and the competitiveness of youth national teams;
• To help to identify, train and protect talented young players;
• To select and monitor the coaches for the various youth national teams;
• To provide input for club competition rules (foreign players, young players, format of the
competition, number of teams, etc.).

RESEARCH AND
DOCUMENTATION
• To promote technical analysis at different levels with universities;
• To gather and manage as much information as possible on development in football;
• To study major competitions and organise thematic seminars;
• To produce documents and audiovisual presentations on technical issues;
• To set up a documentation centre and audiovisual service.

17 TD Handbook
The profile of the TD
A good TD combines four interrelated types of competency:

Personality
• Recognition/acceptance by the national football stakeholders;
• Leadership skills (decision-making, planning, self-learning);
• Recognition as a credible role model for coaches and coach educators;
• Communication skills that enable him/her to convince the key football
stakeholders of the quality of his/her projects.

Knowledge
• Wide knowledge of football at all levels;
• Theory of learning;
• Training and coaching;
• Talent identification and education;
• Management (recruitment, finance);
• Football history of the country.

Skills
• Analytical skills (concerning both the game and the football
environment in general);
• Ability to define and develop a strategy and projects;
• Organisational capacities that enable the implementation of a
complex set of programmes nationwide;
• Managerial skills enabling him/her to coordinate, motivate and
supervise the technical staff;
• Communication and reporting skills.

Experience
• Experience as a football player
(not necessarily at the highest national level);
• Experience as a coach and a coach educator;
• Experience as a group leader;
• Relevant football and sports qualifications (e.g. national or
international coaching licence, university degree in relevant field).

18 TD Handbook
Important
FIFA considers technical development a core function of each football association
and has advocated the appointment of a qualified TD and the creation of a tech-
nical department in each association for a long time. The TD is a key figure for
planning and implementing the development activities funded by FIFA, the confe-
deration or the association.

In order to make sure that this requirement is respected, FIFA requests a copy of
the TD’s long-term contract, a job description and a CV as a precondition for the
disbursement of annual financial assistance through FIFA Forward.

It is to be noted that the position of the TD and of the senior national coach cannot
be combined. They are two completely different roles: the senior national coach
prepares for the next game; the TD shapes the future of football in the country.

19 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 1
TOOLBOX

• Missing an overall strategic or long-term development plan

• Convincing the MA management of the importance of technical
development
Most frequent • Building a better relationship with the GS (Chapter 2)
challenges • Explaining the complexity of football development to people
who do not have a technical background
• Convincing the main stakeholders (clubs, regional associations)
• Maintaining a general overview of the day-to-day work

• Self-learning skills
• Planning skills
• Multidisciplinary attitude
Necessary skills
• Commitment and determination to carry on with the development
and knowledge
plan and face all the obstacles during the implementation and
monitoring phase
• Persuasiveness

• FIFA regional technical consultants are always at the TD’s disposal

for additional information and advice on how to approach his/
her role and responsibilities
FIFA support • FIFA SharePoint platform
• FIFA Technical Leadership Mentoring Programme (individual
mentorship)
• FIFA Technical Leadership courses and workshops

Confederation support • Technical consultancy

20 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY
FRAMEWORK: STRATEGIC PLANNING
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on this important task.
Use the toolbox for reflection. Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main tasks on this project in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network) and in

what ways?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

21 TD Handbook
 2
THE POSITION
OF TECHNICAL
DIRECTOR
WITHIN THE
MEMBER
ASSOCIATION
22 TD Handbook
2. The position of technical director
within the member association
MAs have to manage their own systems and, if necessary, their own governance
reforms while also continuing to act as a driving and stabilising force in the development
of football and – just like any other company or organisation – ensuring that their
administrative and commercial activities also bear fruit. In a modern understanding of
management, the principle that “structure follows strategy” should be respected. That
means that the structure of the general secretariat and the management of the MA has
to reflect the (hopefully existing) development strategy.

23 TD Handbook
 2.1 The organisational chart of the general secretariat
The general secretariat of the MA is composed of different departments. The technical
director (TD) is the head of the technical department and as such, is one of the MA’s senior
figures.

The organisational chart of a small or medium-sized MA typically looks like this:

General
Secretary

Marketing & Technical Competition Finance and Senior National

Communications Department Management Administration Team

Bigger and more developed MAs may have more departments and the technical
responsibility can even be divided between several departments – for example, one for
performance and another for the participation line of football (see Chapter 3).

Some key features of the management board

• All heads of department belong to the management board and will attend its
meetings. If one person is absent, he/she should be replaced by his/her deputy or
designated person.
• The management board meeting is generally organised every week on the same day
and at the same time (e.g. every Monday morning at 10:00).
• All heads briefly present the past and future actions of their departments.
• The management board meeting is about issues that concern the general secretariat
as a whole and that are anticipated in the agenda.
• The strategic plan is the baseline of the decision-making process.
• It is imperative that participants brief the staff in their departments about the decisions
taken during the meeting on the same day, either by email or through a short separate
meeting.
• Minutes of the meeting are distributed shortly after its completion.

24 TD Handbook
 Whatever structure an MA may have, it is clear that the direct supervisor (and mentor) of
the TD is the general secretary (GS), who, in most cases, is the head of all senior staff at the
MA. The TD, together with the other heads of department, is a member of the management
board, where the coordination and exchange between the different departments and units
take place.

• Team selection
• Coaching & development for "A" squad

• Team selection
National Men’s • Coaching & development for "A" squad
Team Coach

National Women’s • Player pathway

Team Coach • National youth teams
• Football development programmes
• Coach education
Technical

General • Budget setting

Finance
secretary • Manage accounts
• Cashflow
Governance & • Payroll invoicing/payments
Regulation • Procurement

Events &
• Regulations
Competitions
• Integrity
• Governance
Commercial • Registration
• Disciplinary
• Club licensing

• International matches
• Domestic matches
• National cup
• Conferences & gatherings

• Sales & marketing:

• Sponsorship
• Advertising
• Broadcasting
• Ticketing
• Merchandise
• Hospitality

25 TD Handbook
2.2 The relationship between the general secretary and technical director
The core business for both is to develop football in the country. Beside the hierarchical as-
pect, the relationship between the GS and TD has to be particularly strong and double-bon-
ded, as the two positions essentially complement each other; trust, the integration of roles
and close cooperation are essential.

BOSS

WORK

On the one hand, the TD is at the centre of everything that relates to football development.
He/she has the technical knowledge, the on-pitch experience, the vision and the recognition
of his/her peers. He/she is the preferred focal point for the coaches and coach educators in the
country, who will refer to him/her for guidance and advice.

LEADER

WORK

On the other hand, the GS is responsible for the preconditions for the TD’s work. He/she must
direct energy and resources in order to achieve a smooth and efficient implementation of the
technical strategy and programmes. The GS clearly retains the supervisory, monitoring and
assessment functions and can support regular contact between the president, the TD and
him/herself.

26 TD Handbook
The GS’s contribution to technical development
• put technical development at the centre of the association’s strategic plan;
• choose the best profile to fill the TD position;
• ensure a coherent structure in the technical department and logical links with
other departments and the national team (management board);
• provide sufficient support and resources for technical development;
• facilitate regular contact and discussion between the president, the TD and him/
herself; and
• evaluate, together with the TD, the benchmarks and outcome parameters for
technical activities and development.

2.3 The relationship between the senior national-team coach and the technical
director
In some MAs, the senior national-team coach does not report to the TD and it is to be noted
that his/her role is characterised by a high level of independence. He/she is usually included
in the national-team department (if it exists), which is in charge of planning and providing
logistical/administrative support. Alternatively, he/she is supervised by a standing committee
and has direct relations with the committee’s chairperson and/or the MA’s president.

Nevertheless, the professional relationship between the TD and senior national-team coach
must be horizontal and based on constant communication and cooperation. As we have
seen, the TD’s aim is to build the future of football in the nation so that – as a result of a
long-term process – the national team can progress over time. In this respect, and as the
person responsible for elite youth football, he/she is in the best position to provide input on
talented young players and football potential. On the other hand, he/she will receive feedback
from the national-team coach on technical/tactical/physical/psychological weaknesses to be
addressed through development programmes, coaching courses and licences, and specific
training routines at the level of elite youth teams. As a very experienced technician, the senior
national-team coach is a valuable source of advice and guidance for all coaches in the country.

2.4 The relationship between the technical director and the youth and women’s
football national coaches (see Chapter 3)
The relationship between the TD and the youth and women’s teams’ coaches is vertical, in
the sense that the TD is their direct supervisor. He/she organises and monitors the work of the
youth national teams and – if they exist – of the beach soccer and futsal teams as well. Within
this framework, he/she provides national coaches with targets, instructions and programme
plans and is responsible for all the matters that relate to youth teams. He/she does not usually
directly coach any team, but can actively participate in planning, budgeting and organising the
training camps and preparation work.

It is also evident that there is a direct and strong link between the work conducted by the
youth national coaches (e.g. at U-20 or U-21 level) and the senior national coach, because
one of the primary functions of the youth teams is to nurture and train talented players for
the senior team. This coordination between senior and youth coaches is managed by the TD,
who is the functional link.

27 TD Handbook
2.5 The technical director’s interactions with other departments
As the head of the technical department, the TD maintains regular horizontal relationships with
other staff within the MA, particularly the heads of other departments. As mentioned above,
the typical forum during which interdepartmental discussions take place is the management
board meeting. However, the TD interacts on a regular basis with the respective departments
and also has a number of bilateral meetings with his/her colleagues to explore in greater detail
what the issues of mutual interest and support between departments are and how they are
dealt with.

Below is a simplified version of the association’s organisational chart that includes the
committees as well:

Congress

Executive
committee

General
Committees Departments
secretary

Finance, Administration/
compliance and audit finance

Competitions/
Competitions
refereeing/medical

Technical/women/
youth/grassroots Technical

Communications Communications
and marketing and marketing

National teams National teams

Elected members Contracted employees

28 TD Handbook
Competitions department
Close cooperation is required between the TD and the competitions department, which
normally organises the senior leagues at national level. Both the competitions department and
the TD maintain regular contact with the clubs (although with different aims and frequency),
and it is important to make sure that there is good communication and that overlapping and
undue interference are avoided.

In addition, the TD provides useful insight and input for better integration of the national
competitions into the MA’s overall strategy. In fact, the structure of the competitions, the
number of games played, the rules that apply to player eligibility (age and nationality, for
instance) and the standards imposed on clubs are all key variables from a development
perspective that have to be discussed and agreed between the two departments. The TD’s
capacity to influence the way competitions are structured can have a strong impact on how
domestic football evolves over time.

Example
A typical responsibility of the TD, when it comes to competitions, is
to develop formats that facilitate the integration of young players
into elite football. One possibility is the implementation of U-21
teams of professional clubs in amateur football leagues to give
the U-21 players, who are yet to break into the first team, playing
opportunities at a reasonable level.

Another point of contact between the TD and the competitions

department can be input on the increase or decrease in the number
of teams in the top and second division or the number and criteria
for the recruitment, of foreign players.

The player licensing system is a further common interest between the TD and the competitions
department, which often directly manages player licences. The licensing system database –
particularly as far youth players are concerned – represents a valuable tool for the TD and his/
her department. It contains information about all active players in the country and can be
used to monitor the results of mass football activities (e.g. growing or decreasing numbers
of players over time), as well as to receive relevant information about individual players for
scouting and talent selection purposes.

FIFA supports the MAs in order to build a worldwide standard for player licences with the FIFA
Connect Programme. For more information, refer to the FIFA regional consultant (see section
4.4).

29 TD Handbook
Important
In some countries, elite competitions are organised by an independent or semi-
independent body (league), in other countries the competitions committee
(composed of elected and nominated members) is heavily involved in the
organisational and operational aspects. Notwithstanding who is in charge of
competitions and how these are managed, the TD must establish a formal and
constant communication line with competitions.

(Senior) national-team department

In some MAs, the men’s senior national team is (traditionally) not integrated in the technical
department. In this situation, a national-team department (in some MAs, this is replaced by
a committee or some key executive committee members) is mostly in charge of the planning
and organisation of all activities related to the senior national team, including official fixtures,
participation in tournaments and friendly matches. If this is the case, the TD must establish a
close working relationship with the department or committee, particularly with the director/
chairman, and ensure that the annual planning of development activities is integrated and
perfectly compatible with the annual planning for the senior national team. In the longer
term, there should be a strong functional link to make sure that the senior national team
benefits the most from the work conducted at elite youth level (see section 2.3 ).

Referees
There is no FIFA standard on where the unit that manages referees should appear in the
organisational chart of an MA. In some cases, it appears as an autonomous department.
In some others, it is part of the competitions department, or even part of the technical
department itself. Lastly, refereeing can also be managed by a separate entity that has signed
a formal agreement with the MA (e.g. referee association).

30 TD Handbook
 For more information on the organisation of the
referee unit, please refer to the Regulations on
the Organisation of Refereeing in FIFA Member
Associations.

Apart from the MA’s organisation, the main principles that concern the TD and the domain
of refereeing are:

• working in full synergy and cooperation and establishing a fruitful relationship with the
operational unit in charge of referees;
• cooperating actively to ensure that there are enough qualified referees for all
competitions (including women’s and youth football, futsal and beach soccer):
good advanced planning and training;
• ensuring that the educational activities for referees (courses, certification programmes)
are in line with the player pathways and the MA’s educational framework;
• establishing cooperation whereby referees are available for activities with players or
coaches (e.g. to explain the Laws of the Game and the standards adopted in the country)
or coaches at certain levels of football attend courses for referees as speakers (e.g. to
present the MA’s playing and coaching philosophy); and
• any modifications to the Laws of the Game to be applied at grassroots and amateur
level.

31 TD Handbook
Medical
Similar to the situation for refereeing, the medical unit (if one exists) can be either independent
or included in the competitions or technical department.

The following are some of the points of common interest between the TD and the medical
unit:

• Player-injury prevention: defining protocols and training standards for clubs and academies
to minimise the risk of player injuries;
• Player recovery: particularly for the national teams, supporting players in rehabilitation
after a severe injury or operation. Maintaining contact with the doctors who work at club
or hospital level;
• Hygiene and nutrition: improving players’ diet and the way they take care of their bodies
when they are off the pitch, particularly at youth level;
• Preparing for international games and tournaments in special conditions (e.g. heat, high
altitude, humidity);
• Medical tests and physical preparation follow-up: liaising between medical staff and
fitness trainers at club or international level (i.e. according to international standards);
• Establishing cooperation whereby medical doctors are available for activities in coach
education and with clubs and coaches on domains related to nutrition, injury prevention
and medical tests for players.

To keep football free from doping, and to protect

and improve the health of all who play football, from
grassroots to elite level, around the world.

32 TD Handbook
Marketing
The department that manages marketing is fundamental in order to produce the revenue
that can fund football activities (sponsorship/marketing/ticketing/income generation) and to
project a positive image of the MA among the general population (through the media, social
media, website, etc.).

In terms of marketing, development activities might represent a clear asset, because they
concern age categories that are associated with certain products that target young people or
future consumers in general. An MA that is particularly active in grassroots and youth football
might have a better chance to sign a sponsorship contract with a company that relies heavily
on young people for its business. Innovative marketing programmes can serve the interests of
all the members of the “football family”.

The synergies must be explored and discussed between the TD and the person in charge of
marketing, and input from both sides should be taken into account to shape activities that
satisfy both the need for football development and the requirements to sell the product to
sponsors.

Example: Copa Coca-Cola

The Copa Coca-Cola (U-15 or U-17) takes place in many countries
worldwide. It is financed by Coca-Cola and supported by central
and local governments. It usually involves the whole country,
starting at community and regional level. The best teams (youth
elite) qualify for the district tournaments and then further for the
regional tournaments. When the competition reaches national level,
the football association usually takes charge (sometimes supported
by FIFA) and puts on coaching and refereeing courses, as well as
providing assistance with the organisation of the final event. The
objectives are multifold, particularly the development of mass youth
football and detection of talented players.

33 TD Handbook
Communication
From a communication perspective, development activities are a definite asset. They enable
the MA to be visible even in periods when the national teams are not active or during league
intervals. Moreover, development activities such as coach education, grassroots courses or
camps for talented young players are events that can be fully controlled by the MA and do not
present any element of surprise or risk, unlike, for instance, national-team results.

The TD must develop good awareness of how his/her work is perceived by the general public
and the positive outcomes that it can bring by enhancing the MA’s image. He/she must be
involved in the definition of the MA’s communication approach where development activities
are concerned. In addition, the TD and the senior staff of the technical department must
provide the communication staff with relevant information and good-quality pictures or
video footage for the production of articles or posts on the MA’s website and/or social media
channels.

Finance and administration

As part of the general secretariat, the TD is subject to the general rules that apply to all
employees, particularly the staff regulations and the finance procedures. As a head of
department, the TD has responsibilities related to human resources (recruitment, definition
and revision of job descriptions, annual appraisals, sanctions, etc.) as well as to how money
is invested (cost centres). Chapter 3 and section 3.2 specifically concern the management
functions of the TD and provide guidance on the shared responsibilities concerning leading
staff.

One of the domains in which the TD cooperates closely with the head of finance and
administration is in the preparation of the annual budget, because the technical department
is typically associated with important investments by the MA. If the TD does not understand
and influence finance planning, his/her department will not be sufficiently funded to realise
the technical programmes.

We will analyse the TD’s contribution to the annual budget exercise in section 3.3.

34 TD Handbook
 2.6 Relations with elected members

Relations with the president

The president of the MA is elected by the congress every four years, usually together with most
of the members of the executive committee (ExCo), on the basis of a strategic programme
that should include issues related to football development. The president will therefore rely
on the TD, as well as the general secretariat as a whole, for the implementation of his/her
programme.

In some MAs, there are routine meetings between the president, GS and TD to discuss
specific issues related to technical development and/or the national teams. Given the central
importance of the role of the president in some MAs, it is important that the TD maintain a
certain level of direct contact with him/her, without bypassing the GS in any way.

Presidents have different working styles, which can be closer to or further removed from
technical development activities:

Ceremonial president Executive president Corporate-style president

Far away from actions Close to actions Strategic approach

Mostly political/royal
Action-oriented Outcome-driven
background

GS has free rein in some cases GS has limited power GS as chief executive

Not accessible Accessible Structured accessibility

Complex decision-making Fast decision-making Structured decision-making

It is helpful for the TD to understand the leadership and working style of the president and to
devise a strategy (together with the GS) to deal with him/her.

35 TD Handbook
It is always good practice to invite the president to the opening of coaching courses, grassroots
events, youth and women’s national-team games and other development activities. On the
one hand, this increases the visibility of both the president and the activity; on the other, it
enables the TD to maintain informal contact with a person who has the needed decision-
making power to provide additional resources and support for technical development.

Important
The president is particularly exposed when it comes to senior
national-team results and will devote most of his/her attention to
it. It is suggested that the TD explains that development activities
represent a fundamental asset in terms of long-term progress
and that appearing as a champion of development can greatly
compensate for poor national-team results. This message can never
be repeated enough.

The role of the ExCo

The ExCo is the MA’s executive decision-making body; it receives its mandate from the congress,
which brings together all the MA’s members. It is convened on a regular basis during the year
and functions like the MA’s government.

ExCo meetings concern all the MA’s domains of activities (marketing, communication, finance,
competitions, football development, etc.). In principle, the TD should attend the ExCo meetings,
at least for the part that concerns matters related to technical development. In this respect,
he/she should be able to provide input for discussion and actively participate in the meetings.
It is always suggested that submit a written contribution (a short report or presentation) to
be submitted in addition to participating orally, because this can be annexed to the meeting
minutes and will remain in the records.

It is important to maintain an open communication line with the GS and president. In this way,
the TD will know when relevant issues are discussed at ExCo level and will be able to prepare
reports/presentations accordingly.

In some MAs, some members of the ExCo meet on a regular basis (sometimes weekly) for
informal meetings for which no minutes are compiled. If this is the case, the TD should be
able to have access to these ExCo members, whether direct or indirect (via the GS). This allows
the TD to provide specialised, informed input into the decision-making process, for example,
regarding the introduction of new competition formats or club licensing criteria.

36 TD Handbook
The standing committees
The committees are composed of elected or nominated people, meet on average two or three
times during the year and are usually chaired by a member of the ExCo. They represent a forum
where policy discussions take place and they approve and supervise the work conducted by
the general secretariat.

The number and type of committees depend on the size, history and level of activity of the
MA. There is no worldwide standard as to how many committees should be created and what
they should deal with. The FIFA Standard Statutes contain a suggested list of 16 committees,
some of which relate to the work of the technical department: technical and development,
women, youth, futsal, football committee or national team.

The TD should be aware of which committees are provided for in the MA’s statutes and which
are currently active (it can be the case that committees exist mainly on paper). His/her role in
this respect is to:

• discuss the agenda of the meeting with the chairperson;

• organise the content to be presented (activity reports, statistics, different kinds of
information, presentations);
• participate in committee meetings and provide relevant input during discussions,
including proposals for new activities or changes to the way work is conducted; and
• execute decisions that are taken or ratified by the committee after final approval by the
ExCo via the GS.

Committees present the TD with a great opportunity to get the development strategy and
specific action plans and projects formally approved by an institutional organ of the MA. This
is usually associated with the allocation (or proposal thereof to the ExCo) of the resources
required for implementation. The TD should therefore understand the basics of the political
dynamics within the MA and interact with the committees by providing the technical support
and justification for decisions to be taken. The relationship with the committee’s chairperson,
who, as noted above, is usually also a member of the ExCo, is particularly important. Developing
a close and personal line of communication will enable the TD to transmit his/her message in
an efficient way and to get backing on policy decisions.

Like FIFA, some MAs plan their committees’ tasks on an annual basis and organise “committee
weeks” in which most of the committee meetings take place, followed by a meeting of the
ExCo. In this context, the TD can plan the work related to the committees and engage his/
her staff in the required organisational work. It is to be noted that staff in the technical
department who work on specific issues (e.g. those responsible for women’s football) should
also participate in the relevant committee meeting (e.g. women’s football committee).

37 TD Handbook
Important
The TD should be in a position to suggest changes and adaptations
to the number and type of technical-related committees and
possibly to have a say on the profile of nominated members. He/she
should be able to approach both the GS and the president in order
to make proposals to be submitted to the ExCo and the congress.

As a general suggestion, MAs should keep the number of

committees manageable. It is sometimes better to have only one
committee in charge of all development activities that meets more
frequently rather than a committee for each matter that meets
rarely or not at all.

38 TD Handbook
39 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 2
TOOLBOX

• Understanding statutory requirements

• Building a good relationship with the GS (and president)
• Handling political decisions and participating in relevant committee
and ExCo meetings
Most frequent • Explaining technical matters to people who have little football
challenges experience
• Achieving a high level of autonomy while still respecting the
hierarchical lines
• Achieving good cooperation from colleagues who are on the same
hierarchical level

• Full awareness of and compliance with statutory and governance

requirements
• Understanding of the political dynamics and capacity to produce
programme proposals that are in line with the MA’s strategy and the
president’s campaign manifesto. Liaising with the GS to participate
in ExCo meetings, at least for the part that relates to technical
development
Necessary skills
• Capacity to adapt the language and arguments to cater to a non-
and knowledge
specialised audience
• Capacity to negotiate and persuade to the management up and
external stakeholders
• Reliability, competence and hard work as the keys to more independence
and acceptance
• Coordination and open communication lines as a means to explain the
technical department’s needs vis-à-vis other functional units

• Further information about the institutional and statutory aspects of the

life of an MA is available on the FIFA website
FIFA support • The FIFA regional consultants are always at the TD’s disposal for
additional information and advice on how to interact and relate within
the general secretariat and the elected bodies

• All confederations have a TD and specific development officers to

Confederation support
support your technical department’s needs

40 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
UNDERSTANDING THE MA’S ORGANISATION
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on this important task.
Use the toolbox for reflection. Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges on this issue in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge, skills or experience will help you

to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

41 TD Handbook
 3
TECHNICAL
SET-UP IN
A MEMBER
ASSOCIATION
42 TD Handbook
3. Technical set-up in a
member association
As a member of the member association’s (MA’s) senior staff, the technical director (TD)
is in charge of a department and therefore must develop the needed organisational
capacity, understand human resource management and have communication skills.
Some of this might be new to recently appointed TDs, who have primarily focused
on football previously (training, coaching and teaching). However, in order to develop
professionally and reach a high level of efficiency, it is also necessary to focus on these
other areas.

43 TD Handbook
3.1 Technical department structure

As we mentioned in chapters 1 and 2, the technical department plays a central role within
a football association, since it deals with its core business of football in many different
aspects.

Technical structure
Given the high number of tasks and the importance of development for any football
association, the TD cannot work alone. He/she should be in charge of a structure that
enables him/her to reach the MA’s technical objectives and make a personal contribution to
the achievement of strategic goals. A TD’s functions and areas of activity vary considerably
from one MA to another, and are influenced by its long-term strategy (in other words,
structure follows strategy), the identified priorities and available resources.

In very small MAs, creating a fully professional technical structure with at least one person
in charge of each function might be a challenge due to a lack of financial resources.
Therefore, some of the functions will be merged and carried out by the same person.

Technical
director

Technical
administration

Grassroots and Coach Elite Women’s

youth football education football football

If resources are extremely limited, the TD should try to develop a network of competent
volunteers that is coordinated by employed staff. Another option might be to partner
with the ministries of sport and/or education to bolster human resources, particularly at
regional level and with regard to grassroots educators, coach educators and talent scouts.
In this case, contracts should be signed with the MA to avoid a situation in which the
government decides to withdraw people whenever it wishes.

Bigger MAs, based on their technical development plan and resources, may have all the
important functions occupied, sometimes even by more than one person.

44 TD Handbook
 General Technical
Secretary director

Research
Administration

Youth elite Youth national Coach Grassroots Girl's and

football teams education football women's football

Futsal and
Youth national coaches
beach soccer

It is important to stress that it is not the number of staff that makes the difference, but the
quality of their contribution ("How to recruit" on p. 50). It is better to have two good people
who are responsible for more functional units than to have ten people, none of whom meet
the minimum requirements in terms of competence. Having said that, each member of staff’s
workload should be manageable.

Technical structure at regional level

Although activities are often more intense in the capital city, the TD is responsible for the
country as a whole. In order to harness a nation’s full football potential, especially in big
countries, it is essential to be able to organise football development systematically across the
country. The TD must make sure that the MA is at the centre of development activities, and,
where possible, bring all the elements on board and provide support and coordination.

This can only be done if appropriate technical structures exist in the regions and are integrated
with the regional associations and leagues, or are organised/coordinated at the headquarters
(HQ).

Depending on the resources available and the degree of organisation at regional level, the
structure might vary, anywhere between having just one focal point (employee or volunteer)
to a small structure that includes several functions. Notwithstanding the level of complexity
of the structures at regional level, it is of paramount importance that their activities follow
very clear guidelines and that the technical development work is conducted in a coherent
way across the country. To achieve this, excellent communication between the MA technical
department staff and regional technical staff and a functioning feedback system are essential.

45 TD Handbook
The table below sets out the functions that should ideally be covered at regional level (mostly
by volunteers) and how they relate to the MA technical department staff:

MA technical department staff Regional technical staff

• Responsible for regional technical

activities (e.g. youth/women’s/amateur
competitions)
• Explaining technical matters to people
who have little football experience
TD
• Achieving a high level of autonomy while
still respecting the hierarchical lines
• Achieving good cooperation from
colleagues who are on the same
hierarchical level

• Grassroots (ages six to 12)

Grassroots manager • Youth and adult amateur football
• Women’s football

• Coach educators and education courses

(if regional courses are available
Head of coach education
• Activities (e.g. youth/women’s/amateur
competitions)

• Regional youth teams and academies (if

Head of youth national teams
they exist)

46 TD Handbook
3.2 Human resource management

Staff profiles
Each function of the technical department is associated with a certain type of technical
and organisational knowledge, skill and experience. The person in charge of education and
coaching licences will have a different experience and personal profile from the person in
charge of grassroots football. Defining and assessing the key tasks and skills for each position
is one of the TD’s responsibilities. It is to be noted that although technical knowledge is a
must for technical staff, their skill set should also include computer literacy, basic drafting skills
(reports), increasing organisational capacity and having a good understanding of the internal
rules and regulations. Moreover, in order for a department to operate as a team, there must
be a team spirit, integration of roles and excellent internal communication, all of which play a
pivotal role in ensuring efficiency in any department.

When a TD is newly appointed, he/she will have to hold discussions with the employees under
his/her responsibility and assess how their profiles can best contribute to the department’s
efforts. If an individual has gaps in terms of their personal profile or experience, it might be
possible to improve his/her skills through training or peer-to-peer work (see Chapter 9).

It is fundamental that whoever is in charge of any given function is able to fulfil his/her
responsibilities and receives the necessary support from the TD. If the person’s profile falls short
of the minimum requirements and training is not thought to be worthwhile, a replacement
must be considered.

In the case that positions are vacant, it will be necessary to proceed with hiring new staff.

47 TD Handbook
 How to recruit staff
Recruitment is a process that is usually managed at association level, either under the
responsibility of the director of human resources (if such a position exists) or under the
supervision of the general secretary (GS). Notwithstanding who is in charge of coordinating
the whole process, as the person responsible for the technical department, the TD must be
involved in such a process, particularly regarding:

• defining the profile in terms of technical competence, autonomy and team spirit
(job description/job announcement);
• contributing to the assessment criteria;
• actively participating in the selection process (shortlisting, interviews); and
• providing relevant input for the final decision.

Depending on the complexity of the MA’s structure and the particular profile for the position,
the recruitment process can vary greatly. In some cases, and for positions that require very
specific experience and skills, a selection will be made among a very small group of people
that are easily identifiable (e.g. head of women’s football in a country with only a few former
elite players/coaches). In other cases, particularly if there are many people in the country with
the required skills, the process will be lengthier and more complex. Below is a schematic
description of a standard recruitment process:

Definition of the Definition of the Publishing Selection of best

department’s needs required profile vacancy notice profiles (shortlist)

Induction and Approval of best Interviews with Appointment of

integration candidate candidates recruitment panel

Responsibility of the TD

Responsibility of the director of administration and human resources (or GS)

48 TD Handbook
Human resource tools
Depending on the size and the complexity of the technical department, the amount of time
and personal effort the TD has to invest in staff management will vary. The more complex the
organisation, the more the TD will supervise implementation, rather than being personally
involved with the different activities. Below are three basic steps for effiient employee
managament. The more complex the department, the more human resource tools will be
required

The starting point for a good manager is always to define the desired structure in
1 order to be in the best position to implement the MA’s strategy and to achieve the
identified objectives. Defining an optimal organisational chart and sharing it within
the department and the GS is the starting point for clarifying reporting lines and
supervisory responsibilities.

The second step is to sit down with each staff member and discuss in detail what
2 his/her role and responsibilities are and what the expected results over the following
months or years should be. The best way to formalise this discussion is to put it on
paper in the form of a job description.

Another important step is to monitor and assess employee performance against

3 the targets defined at the job description stage. Such assessment should be carried
out informally on a regular basis and formally (in writing) at least once a year. It
should ideally be integrated into a process that applies to the whole MA. For more
information, see Chapter 9.

Internal communication
Internal communication is fundamentally a manager’s task because it is about defining
the working environment and its rules. It is therefore directly linked to human resource
management. As the head of a department, the TD must decide how he/she wants staff to
interact with each other and with him/herself.

Below are some key questions that can help to form a better understanding of internal
communication within the department:
• Do the reporting lines function efficiently in both directions (top-down/bottom-up)?
• Are horizontal relations between employees efficient? What communication channels are
used?
• How do different people prefer to transmit/receive information (e.g. written v. oral)?
Is this approach efficient?
• What are the most frequent setbacks in terms of information‑sharing and coordination?
• Is coordination with other departments efficient? How can it be improved?
• Where are people based (e.g. geographical location) and are there any infrastructure
problems hindering communication (internet access, electricity, mobile phone coverage,
etc.)?
• Which tools are commonly used and what are their pros and cons?

49 TD Handbook
Collaboration with senior staff in the department
The TD is indeed at the centre of the MA’s football development work. He/she has the technical
knowledge, experience in the field, vision and recognition of his/her peers. To properly develop
football in all areas, however, he/she needs competent and well-organised staff, who will refer
to him/her for guidance and advice (see Section 3.1). These staff members are specialists for
grassroots development, elite education, coaching and women’s football, etc. The TD may
have expertise in one or two of these fields, but rarely, if ever, in all of them. Usually, he/she is
a generalist who has to oversee the development of football in the country and to understand
how the different areas are interlinked.

The art of leading a technical department is similar to being a successful coach:

make your players better and form the best team possible!

To lead the department successfully, the TD has to be able to switch between being a manager
and a leader. Management generally refers to organising staff and the department in order
to accomplish goals; leadership generally refers to the TD’s ability to motivate, influence and
inspire people.

MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP
• Planning • Influencing
• Communicating
• Organising • Motivating
• Problem-solving
• Staffing • Inspiring
• Decision-making
• Coordinating • Creating
• Controlling • Mentoring

It can be argued that two aspects of being a manager and leader are especially important to
ensure staff perform well, namely ensuring that the team understands and shares common
objectives and that the team has clear roles and responsibilities.

50 TD Handbook
 ENSURING COMMON OBJECTIVES
ARE ACCEPTED AND SHARED

More motivation and commitment

Team understands/ More creativity and empowerment

shares the goals

More independence and autonomy

If people are involved in this process,

they are much more likely to agree and to follow.

DEFINING AND
COORDINATE RESPONSIBILITIES

Fewer tensions and conflicts

Team has clear roles More overall efficiency

and responsibilities

Easier to assess performance

If team members understand the responsibilities entailed in every role,

it is easier for the team to work together.

51 TD Handbook
The relationship between the technical director
and youth national-team coaches
The relationship between the TD and youth national-team coaches (boys’ and girls’) is vertical,
in the sense that the TD is their direct supervisor. He/she organises and monitors the work of
the youth national teams and – if they exist – of beach soccer and futsal teams as well. Within
this framework, he/she provides national coaches with targets, instructions, programme
outlines and is responsible for all matters that relate to youth national teams. A focal point of
this collaboration is the implementation and periodic review of the MA’s playing and coaching
philosophy.

The TD usually does not directly coach a team, but can actively participate in planning,
budgeting and organising training camps and preparation work.

It is also evident that there is a direct and strong link between the work conducted by youth
national coaches (e.g. U-20 or U-21) and the senior national coach, because one of the
primary functions of youth teams is to create and train talented young players for the senior
team. This coordination between senior and youth coaches is managed by the TD, who serves
as the functional link.

52 TD Handbook
Meetings and bilateral discussions
Meetings are a typical way to transmit information and take decisions. They can serve many
purposes, such as:

• providing information;
• focusing on analysis;
• decision-making;
• managing conflicts and misunderstandings; and
• working together for creative solutions and new projects
(brainstorming/strategic thinking).

Each type of meeting requires a different approach and, in some cases, different rules. As a
general suggestion, it is always better to distribute the agenda in advance and keep minutes
of the meeting, so that the information does not get lost and can be efficiently conveyed to
anyone who was not at the meeting. The better a meeting is prepared and organised, the
better the chances of its objectives being achieved.

How to mentor and train staff

One way to upgrade the knowledge and skills of the technical department’s employees is to
train them in domains where they require improvement. Out of the various training possibilities,
one should choose the most cost-effective. Generally speaking, there are five types of training
that are relevant to a football association (see Chapter 9):

• Self-learning
• Mentoring
• Leadership cells
• Peer-to-peer
• Formal education

The professional obligation to grow professionally applies not only to TDs (see Chapter 9), but
to all staff members. Based on regular feedback and assessments, the TD (or the head of HR,
if there is one) should propose and find tailor-made solutions for staff training.

53 TD Handbook
3.3 Financial responsibilities

Within a football association, the person in charge of finances is the director of finance and
administration, sometimes the GS. Nevertheless, as one of the senior managers, the TD has
some responsibilities and duties related to financial management as well.

Budget
The first step in budgeting involves developing forecast revenues over the term of the strategic
plan (see Chapter 1). Without a long-term budget plan, the technical development plan
will not be realised. The association’s finance department must, in collaboration with other
departments, collate and populate cost projections, which are based on the association’s
planned activities. It is critical, and the finance department’s responsibility, to carefully check
and validate the accuracy of the proposed revenue streams and costs prior to them being
included in the MA’s budget. By incorporating the budget process into the strategic planning
process, the association can begin to ascertain the financial impact of long-term goals and
their implementation. Once completed and signed off, it is strongly recommended that the
long-term budget be included in the strategic planning document and used as the association’s
guiding financial tool.

The annual budget is the financial document that enables the association to plan how money
will be spent year on year. Contributing to the budget exercise for the technical department
and ensuring funding is an important task for the TD.

• It is fundamental for the implementation of technical programmes and projects.

• It sharpens the understanding of the department’s yearly goals.
• It is a team-building exercise that can develop ownership.
• It gives the department a clear idea of the available funds and the activities that can be
implemented.
• It shows the TD what the department can afford and where the gaps are in funding.
• It allows the TD to plan ahead to meet needs.
• It encourages effective ways of dealing with money.
• It can motivate staff to be creative in seeking out other sources of funding and to
increase savings.
• It helps avoid surprises.

Typically, the technical department is associated, alongside the senior national teams, with the
highest levels of spending within a football association. This requires a certain level of financial
responsibility and understanding from the TD and his/her staff.

Once the budget is defined and approved, spending needs to be monitored and adapted. This
is a process that is conducted on a regular basis (e.g. once a month) in conjunction with the
director of finance and/or the GS.

54 TD Handbook
Small MAs with limited resources depend greatly upon the FIFA Forward development programme
for their funding (see more on https://www.fifa.com/football-development/fifa-forward.

The Forward programme offers tailor-made support, adapted to the MA’s individual requirements
through the MA’s identification of specific needs and priorities for football development after
conducting an analysis of the current footballing situation in its territory. It seems logical to
fully integrate the TD in this process. He/she must defend the requested resources based on the
technical development plan.

Financial procedures and accounting

Financial management is closely linked to financial regulations and procedures that must
be followed by everybody on how money is allocated, spent and managed. The procedures
encompass the following aspects, among others:

• Budgetary control: who can spend how much and on what, and which expenditure needs
special permission?
• Controls on human resources: who can recruit and for what roles, and which permissions
are needed?
• Controls on physical assets: who can authorise the sale and lease of buildings or
equipment?

55 TD Handbook
 The TD should be fully aware of this, as he/she is responsible for the budget at his/her disposal
and must justify any differences between budget and actual costs (overspend or underspend).

Two basic rules

No expenses without No expenses without

authorisation supporting documents
(signatures/approval) (invoices)

TDs who have a limited understanding of financial matters should close the gap by requesting
a crash course from their finance colleagues in order to fulfil the minimum requirements for
the position and be able to comply with the association’s regulations.

Cost centres and cost types

In MAs with a basic accounting system, there will be two recurrent terms: cost centres and
cost types.

Cost centre: is a section of the budget (usually identified by a number) that refers directly to
a unit or department. Depending on the complexity of the operations and the accounting
system, the technical department will be associated with one cost centre and/or several
accounts (sometimes called project types or cost units) related to activities or specific projects
(education, youth football, grassroots, etc.). Usually, the TD is responsible for approving the
expenditure that falls within his/her cost centre and related accounts.

Cost type: relates to how money is spent (accommodation, transportation, materials, etc.) and
is usually handled by the finance department. Nevertheless, it can contain useful information
for the TD to better understand how the development money is spent and whether the
situation is in line with the identified needs.

56 TD Handbook
3.4 Logistics

Depending on the division of tasks among departments, logistics might be managed

by a separate unit or the administration department. Although not part of the TD’s core
responsibilities, a few elements are worth mentioning.

Office space
In MAs where the technical centre is in a different location from HQ, there might be confusion
on where the TD should be based. On the one hand, he/she usually spends a considerable
amount of time at the technical centre supervising training sessions, games, national-team
camps and courses. On the other hand, he/she is a senior manager of the football association
and therefore needs to frequently liaise with the GS and other senior staff. So, where should
his/her office be?

The right answer is both at the technical centre and at HQ. The main office should be at
HQ, because that is where coordination with other departments takes place, where meetings
are held and, therefore, where the most important decisions are made. However, given the
amount of time that he/she spends at the technical centre, he/she should have an office there
as well, with equipment and furniture enabling him/her to work there.

In principle, the same applies to the technical department’s other employees, including
coaches. Of course, those whose work mainly takes place at the technical centre (e.g. youth
national-team coaches), might have their main office at the technical centre, and only a shared
desk at HQ.

The situation is much easier in MAs where the technical centre and HQ are on the same
premises, and the TD can do work on and off the pitch without having to travel.

Regardless of the exact set-up, there is always a minimum amount of equipment needed to
work, such as computers (both desktops and laptops), internet access, printers, phones and
a TV screen to analyse games. Making sure that all staff have access to this is part of the TD’s
responsibilities as head of department.

57 TD Handbook
Material
The technical centre and any other facility that is used for development activities, such as training
camps for youth national teams, should be equipped with a minimum set of football material enabling
specific exercises and matches. A typical list of material would include:

• Balls: good training requires a high number of good quality balls (possibly official match quality);
• Movable goals: different sizes (from regular to mini) can be used, allowing the length of the pitch
to be reduced, or the available space to be exploited by alternating the direction of play;
• Different colour bibs: enable players to be divided into different groups (e.g. defenders v. strikers)
or teams;
• Cones, cups and poles: used to reduce the size of the pitch, to create zig-zag paths and for many
other exercises;
• Nets: used to avoid losing balls and wasting time looking for them;
• Fixed dummies: human-sized plastic or metal objects used as artificial barriers to practise free
kicks;
• Ladder: a movable horizontal pole attached to two vertical supports used to practise jumping
and for warm-up sessions;
• Medical set: a box containing the most important and frequently used medical items (e.g. ice
spray);
• Timing gates: used to get accurate data on the players’ and referees’ speed over a given distance;
• Electronic equipment for game and performance analysis.

The ability to use and stay up to speed with the latest technology, knowledge and skills is required
in order to successfully run a multifunctional department. The modern-day TD needs to understand
the benefits and nature of sports science, how to manage performance staff, and have an excellent
grasp of how to use electronic equipment for communication.

Many MAs struggle to get a technical sponsor and in some countries the material might be difficult
to find or expensive to purchase. In order to utilise resources efficiently, it is important to plan ahead
and identify in advance what the needs will be over a period of time, so that costs can be minimised
(see FIFA Forward operational cost budget or integration in any project proposal within Forward).

It is also fundamental that the materials be looked after and kept in a safe place. A person should
be in charge and responsible for them, a function that can be coupled with that of facility manager,
for instance.

Important
Always make sure that there is an automated external defibrillator
(AED) near the training pitches. It can save lives and needs to be
reachable within seconds.

58 TD Handbook
59 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 3
TOOLBOX

• Define a management culture within the technical department

• Combine excellent technical experience with sound managerial
and leadership skills
• Manage aspects of the work that are not directly linked to
football (human resources, financial planning and oversight,
Most frequent
logistics, etc.)
challenges
• Coordinate people who work in different locations (e.g.
technical centre and HQ)
• Ensure compliance with internal regulations
• Financial resources for the recruitment of qualified staff
• Financial resources in general

• Excellent managerial and leadership skills

Necessary skills • Excellent communication skills
and knowledge • Good level of organisation and computer literacy skills
• Understanding of the basics of financial management

• Set expectations for completion of tasks before and after

Delegation skills meetings
• Provide support and follow up

• Further information about the technical structure of a member

association
FIFA support • FIFA regional technical consultants are always at the TD’s disposal
for additional information and advice on how to build and lead
the technical department

60 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
LEADING THE TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on this important task.
Use the toolbox for reflection. Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges in this regard in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge, skills or experience will help you

to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

61 TD Handbook
 4
EXTERNAL
CONTACTS AND
RELATIONS
62 TD Handbook
4. External contacts and relations

In Chapter 2, we analysed the technical director’s (TD) interactions within his/her

member association (MA), focusing on relations with the general secretary (GS), senior
management and statutory organs. Chapter 4 complements this overview by analysing
the contact and relations with all external stakeholders. There are many of these, and
they can facilitate the systemisation and decentralisation of development activities and,
therefore, play an important role in the successful implementation of the technical
development strategy.

63 TD Handbook
 Confederation Referees & Regional
Fans FIFA
coaches associations

Media & National

broadcasters Players Olympic
Committee

Sponsors & FOOTBALL

commercial Clubs &
partners
ASSOCIATION leagues Communities

Regional &
Coaches
Venues district
associations
associations

Schools,
Local colleges,
Government Members Volunteers
authorities universities

The overall identification of MA stakeholders may be done internally under the guidance
of the GS in the form of a workshop. Once identified, it is necessary to categorise and
prioritise them differently for different (technical) projects (see Chapter 5).

The primary stakeholders for the technical plans and programmes are those who have
a significant influence on implementing these projects, such as coaches, clubs, regional
associations or leagues, government and local authorities.

The secondary stakeholders are those who may not have a major influence in setting the
direction of technical programmes, but can have a considerable impact on the performance
of special operations and support. Examples include FIFA, the confederations, the National
Olympic Committee, the Special Olympics and universities or research centres.

64 TD Handbook
4.1 Contact with clubs

Contact with club coaches

Club coaches in elite football are typically one of the most important stakeholder groups for
the technical department at large. As the person responsible for the definition of the structure
and curriculum for coach education, together with the head of coach education, the TD is a
reference point for his/her colleagues from both a professional and personal perspective. The
TD must make the most of any opportunities to interact with them.

Usually such opportunities arise on coaching courses, or at workshops, coaching conferences

and analysis seminars. Each of these events targets a different type of audience and the TD
has to adapt his/her input accordingly. For instance, during a coaching course for lower licence
levels, he/she will participate in the opening/closing ceremonies, give lectures and be available
for question and answer sessions.

At a higher level, such as technical analysis seminars for top-division games or for an
international competition, the audience will probably include some of the most experienced
coaches in the country and the relationship will be more horizontal, as is the case among
colleagues and friends. This will enable the technical director to receive new ideas and relevant
input from other coaches, as well as to establish a constant and open dialogue with them. His/
her role at this level will be more of a mentor for the most interesting coaches at clubs.

In addition to multilateral forums, the TD should maintain open communication on an

individual level. Maintaining bilateral relations takes more time than participation at events.
They might not therefore be possible constantly with everyone. Nevertheless, it is important to
maintain personal contact with the most relevant coaches by phone or email, so that you can
reach them, and vice versa, in case of need. A positive and open approach will enable the TD
to get the best information and receive support from his/her peers whenever needed. Among
the subjects that should be discussed are:

• the implementation of national football philosophy;

• information about talented young players;
• feedback on (elite) youth training and matches;
• recurrent weaknesses noticed in young professional players;
• recurrent challenges faced by coaches on and off the pitch (coach education syllabus);
• talent-scouting methods;
• the state of infrastructure, facilities, equipment; and
• competition formats (senior and youth).

65 TD Handbook
Depending on the size of the country and the complexity of the competitions, there may
be thousands of licensed coaches. It is clear that it will be impossible to maintain personal
relations with all of them or even to remember a few basic facts about most of them. In
this case, it is fundamental to establish a system whereby relevant contact is established and
constantly maintained. Other staff members in the technical department must be involved in
the relationship with club coaches. Technical staff in regional MAs in big countries can also
play a role in that regard.

Coaches’ association
(institutional relations, synergies,
additional resources)

• Technical director Senior coaches

(exchange of information, technical
• Head of coach education
analysis, networking)
• Youth national coaches

Youth coaches
(scouting, match and training
observation, counselling, advice,
reference point, support)

A database with the most relevant aspects of a coach’s career (clubs where he/she worked,
years of experience, licence level, university degrees, etc.) and the number of coaches per level
should be in place. That is also a requirement for the coaching convention in the confederation.
Such a database can be developed through FIFA Connect and it will provide an overview of
the level of coach education and practical experience in the country based on reliable figures.
This is a major asset in terms of analysis of the football environment and a good basis to plan
changes in the coaching education framework (see Chapter 5 for more details on analysis and
Chapter 7 for more details on coach education).

Last but not least, the technical director must establish a formal relationship with the
associations representing coaches, both at national and – if they exist – at international level
(e.g. the Alliance of the European Football Coaches’ Association – AEFCA). Coach associations
represent licensed coaches within a country and defend their interests vis-à-vis clubs, the
football association and the league. In many ways, they resemble trade unions, but in some
countries, they might have very close relations with the football association and have voting
rights during congress or have been delegated certain organisational functions by the football
association itself.

Depending on the importance and role of the coaches’ association in a given country, the TD
will decide how relevant its input is and how important it will be to establish close working
relations with it. This decision is taken in view of the role and function of the coaches’
association (including at statutory level) and its operational capacities.

66 TD Handbook
Contact with club officials
In addition to coaches, the TD maintains regular contact with the clubs and teams that are
relevant to his/her work. The ideal counterparts are sporting directors and the heads of youth
sections and academies (if these positions exist). Alternatively, it can be any person who has
authority on the technical side (in some cases, the clubs’ presidents themselves). Once again,
this takes place in the form of both multilateral meetings and bilateral relations. Whereas
discussion with coaches is mainly focussed on technical issues, relations with clubs include
other aspects as well. One such aspect is youth structures. Clubs that have strong youth
structures are of great interest to the TD. Not only are they likely to produce the best talented
players for the youth national teams (scouting interest), but they will be in a better position to
provide input on issues related to training, competitions and education (football development
interest). It is noteworthy that it is often the clubs that decide how many resources should be
devoted to the youth teams, what kind of coaches should be engaged and which competitions
the team should participate in. It is therefore important that the TD understands the decision-
making process at club level and knows who to contact and with whom to discuss these
matters.

Another important aspect of relations between the TD and clubs is the investment in elite youth
football. This is key for football development, but it also involves associated costs that can be
quite high for clubs. This is one of the reasons why some clubs prefer to buy “cheaper” players
abroad instead of raising their own home-grown talent. This can also be regulated through
the club licensing programme by insisting that each club has an academy and various youth
teams in place. The condition for this is that the MA provides/organises such competitions.

It is the TD’s job to make sure that investment in grassroots and youth football (both amateur
and elite) is maintained and increased by the MA and the country’s clubs, and he/she should
endeavour to advocate for it whenever possible. In some cases, it might be possible to impose
standards on clubs through a club licensing programme, such as the obligation to have one or
more youth teams, or to field a minimum number of youth players in the first team. In other
cases, it is about persuading the decision-makers and gaining their support. The TD should
also inform clubs of the advantages that come from investment in youth football. These are
not limited to the discovery and training of talented players, but also includes the revenue that
can be generated by selling players. It should be stressed that clubs that train young players
are entitled to receive training compensation and a solidarity mechanism.

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Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players

Article 20
Training compensation shall be paid to a player’s training club(s): (1) when a player is registered
for the first time as a professional, and (2) each time a professional is transferred until the end
of the calendar year of his 23rd birthday. [...]

Article 21
If a professional is transferred before the expiry of his contract, any club that has contributed
to his education and training shall receive a proportion of the compensation paid to his
former club (solidarity contribution). [...]

For more information on these mechanisms, please refer to the Regulations on the Status and
Transfer of Players, available on www.fifa.com/legal

The release of players is also an important topic for TDs and clubs. Clubs need to release
players before national-team matches and this can raise tensions, especially with top-division
teams (e.g. fears of injury). It is part of the role of the TD and the youth national-team coaches
to explain to clubs how these releases work and detail the established applicable rules, with
a particular focus on youth teams that are under his/her direct responsibility. The TD should
also explain the advantages of having a youth player participate in national-team matches, in
terms of the experience gained at a high level and the potential economic return for the club
(the higher the visibility, the higher the player’s potential value). In other words, the rewards
outweigh the potential risks.

Lastly, visiting matches and training sessions are an area of interest for TDs and clubs, as
TDs typically visit different teams’ (senior, youth, women’s) training sessions. This is possibly
the best way to understand how clubs, coaches and players work and to assess their true
potential. This part of the work can often be delegated to other members of the technical
department and can also create opportunities to talk to other club members and officials.

68 TD Handbook
4.2 Contact with regional associations and leagues

Regional associations
The quality of regional football is a good indication of the country’s overall football potential.
For development strategy, regional associations, sometimes called regional or provincial
leagues, should be the local relays of the MAs. The association should incorporate regional
football organisations with well‑established structures and staffing where possible, as these
have closer links with schools, clubs and communities. Decentralised structures, supported
by their own technical staff, can take over from, or assist, the member association’s technical
department for any regional or local activities that are implemented (see Chapter 3).

On a political level and depending on the association’s statutes, they usually have voting rights
during congress and sometimes enjoy fixed representation on the executive committee.

Football leagues
A football league is an entity that organises competitions within the country, usually at
professional level. It can be independent, affiliated or completely integrated into the MA. The
TD must have direct contact with the leagues for a number of reasons, including:

• Both the football leagues and the technical

department should maintain regular
contact with the clubs.
• The structure and format of the
competitions play an important role in
how players evolve technically and in
the development of football within the
country. The TD has to be involved in
establishing the rules for small-sided games
in grassroots football and the regulations
for regional youth football.
• The rules that apply to player eligibility
(age and nationality, for instance) and the
standards imposed on clubs are all key
variables from a development perspective
that have to be discussed and agreed
upon.

Regional football leagues usually depend on

regional associations and may even have the
same name.

69 TD Handbook
4.3 Contact with government and local authorities

Contact with government

There are usually two ministries that are extremely relevant for football development: the
ministry of sports and the ministry of education. In some cases, the ministry of health and
regional authorities can play an important role as well.

Before going into the details of the relations, it is important to note that contact with
government institutions is primarily the responsibility of the president and of the GS, who
are in charge of formally representing the MA. Nevertheless, the TD, as well as the rest of the
association’s senior management, should maintain working-level contact that enables them to
carry out their programmes and exchange information without always needing to go through
the top political level. A visual description of how the different actors relate to each other is
contained in the diagram below.

President Minister

Deputy minister
General secretary Head of cabinet
Director of sport department

Technical director Youth activities

National sport centre

70 TD Handbook
Ministry of sports
Relations with the ministry of sports are clearly strategic because this institution often
provides essential funding, such as covering costs related to national teams or support for the
organisation of competitions and/or to clubs.

In many countries, the ministry of sports is – together with the National Olympic Committee
– the main actor in sport development and can invest a considerable amount of money in
infrastructure, materials, training, support to the various national teams and the organisation
of national and international competitions. From a football development perspective, the
interest is primarily focused on training infrastructure and the support and funding for mass
football, including women’s, grassroots, and youth football. Some MAs have also developed
an agreement on the creation of a specific curriculum for higher coach education.

It is to be noted that, beside direct financial support, the ministry of sports usually provides
structures and human resources that can be of great help for the implementation of the MA’s
strategy. One key suggestion is to involve the ministry at the early stages of the definition
of the strategy (see Chapter 1), including during the analytical part (see Chapter 5). The
relationship should be formalised as much as possible in the form of a written agreement
or a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will define the respective responsibilities,
prevent disputes, and facilitate the timely payment of financial contributions.

It is the GS’s role to oversee the drafting of the MoU, but the TD should participate in the
technical discussions and provide the needed input. He/she should also be the main contact
for anything related to the practical implementation of the agreement. Depending on the
complexity of the MA’s organisation and the quantity and type of work that is envisaged, other
departments (e.g. legal) or other staff in the technical department can be involved and will
maintain working-level relations with the ministry on specific areas (e.g. women’s football).

Ministry of education
The ministry of education is a key partner for any football association, because it has access
to the primary football asset: future footballers. No association can conduct development
programmes if it does not establish grassroots activities that engage young boys and girls
and create a framework for them to progress into more structured competitions and training.
Working with schools is therefore almost mandatory, especially if the network of grassroots
clubs is weak and there are no specific activities in place.

Moreover, physical education is usually a standard subject in the curriculum and physical
education teachers can become a workforce of grassroots coaches, working in the field, with
great experience in dealing with children and youngsters. It is of the utmost importance for
any MA to have access to and to establish cooperation with school football. It is recommended
that specific MoUs are signed between the MA and the ministry of education, particularly with
regard to having access to school football and determining relevant tasks. In some cases, it
might be suggested that a tripartite agreement be signed with the ministries of sports and
education to secure full support for development activities.

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Ministry of health
Football and sport, in general, are the best vectors to advocate a healthy way of life, to fight
tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse and for the prevention of diseases. This activity requires an
intense cooperation with the ministries of health and education. Although not the TD’s primary
responsibility, he/she might be involved directly or indirectly in part of the implementation and
must be fully aware of the agreements between the MA and the ministry.

Regional and local authorities

Local authorities (governorates, provincial authorities, local offices of the central ministries,
municipalities) can become relevant partners for the implementation of the MA’s strategy at
regional level. This may include:

• cooperation on the improvement of existing football facilities or the construction of new

ones;
• the use of land belonging to communities or regions;
• the provision of office space, furniture and equipment for regional associations; and
• collaboration with local schools or community centres for the organisation of grassroots
festivals or community tournaments.

The stronger the technical component of the regional associations’ work, the more important
it is to have the full support of local authorities. Although most contact will be at local level
directly, the TD and his/her staff must be aware of how it takes place and supervise the
implementation of the agreement from the MA’s side.

4.4 Universities and research centres

Universities and research centres can be important partners for the TD because they conduct
studies on various aspects of individual and team performance and on football development
from a scientific and academic perspective. These can be of great help in upgrading the level
of technical analysis and to develop programmes that are more in line with the identified
needs. The same applies to other relevant domains, such as health, nutrition, injury prevention
and rehabilitation, as well as mental and psychological training.

Regular contact with academic institutions can help to:

• support a culture of evaluation and reporting;
• provide objective measurements of activities and results v. objectives;
• ensure the quality of the process and improvement; and
• utilise the knowledge and experience of others.

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It is not difficult to develop these very useful contacts if there is an understanding on both sides
about progress, for example, the possibility to include master’s students in relevant research
projects that will give them university credits while delivering useful analysis and data to the
MA. Below are some examples of partnerships:

• Qualification work at tertiary level (physical education, teacher education, IT, medicine, etc.)
• Diploma work for higher coaching licences (e.g. Pro Licence)
• Working on internal data projects (e.g. with IT department)

4.5 Relations with other institutions

The TD maintains regular contact with a number of institutions, both within the football family
(FIFA, confederations and member associations) and outside it (Olympic movement, other
sports associations, non-governmental organisations, etc.).

FIFA
As developing football worldwide is one of the main objectives for FIFA (see Chapter 1),
contact with FIFA is important for a TD. The main partners are FIFA’s Technical Development
and Women’s Football Divisions.

Chief of Global Football Development

Arsène Wenger

Technical Director
Steven Martens

Technical Technical High

Coaching
Development Leadership Performance
Development
Services Programmes Programmes

73 TD Handbook
The following FIFA programmes and projects offer direct support for the TD’s work:

Technical leadership, capacity building and talent development

To develop football in all areas, each member association needs a well-organised technical
department with a strong technical director (see Chapter 3). FIFA delivers courses, workshops
and individual mentorship for TDs of MAs to develop their specific knowledge and leadership
skills (see Chapter 9).

FIFA regional offices and consultants

There are FIFA regional offices worldwide that provide support and help to MAs. Each office is
headed by a development manager. FIFA maintains a network of regional technical consultants
in charge of the technical matters for a particular region. The regional technical consultant is a
fundamental contact for any TD and exchanges should take place on a regular basis to update
FIFA on the evolution of the national strategy and to ask for support.

Internet support
FIFA technical development will use its dedicated Microsoft SharePoint platform as the central
hub for all relevant information on FIFA projects and programmes. TDs will have a direct link to
the platform as well as presidents, general secretaries, heads of coach education and women’s
football.

Via this platform, MAs will have access to the following topics:
• high performance & talent identification;
• coaching development;
• technical leadership; and
• technical development services.

Some of the information to be found on the platform includes contact details of the Technical
Development Division staff and regional technical consultants, updates on projects and
programmes, application templates, event dates, teaching materials, recordings of workshops/
forums/webinars, publications, newsletters and much more.

FIFA Forward 2.0

The FIFA Forward Programme offers tailored (financial) support, adapted to the MA’s individual
requirements through the identification of specific needs and priorities for the development of
football (see Chapter 1). In alignment with the long-term development plan and the analysis
of the technical development situation, the MA must determine its objectives for a two- to
four-year cycle.

As most of the criteria that the MA must meet concerns technical development, with support
from regional technical consultants, TDs must be fully involved in the planning of the project
template.

74 TD Handbook
Confederations
Confederations are collective organisations of football associations on a geographical basis
and are not members of FIFA per se. They are important at continental level, are of different
sizes and have different histories. Recently appointed TDs should familiarise themselves with
their confederation’s procedures to apply for development programmes and to participate
in regional competitions for senior, women’s and youth football. One especially important
contact for any TD will be the confederation’s TD. Some confederations have developed an
intranet system to provide their members with additional information and access to certain
documents, in the same way that FIFA has. Otherwise, their website usually contains useful
guidance and general information, including tournament regulations.

www.the-afc.com
www.cafonline.com www.oceaniafootball.com
www.concacaf.com www.uefa.com
www.conmebol.com
 The responsibilities of confederations can be divided into the following domains:

• Organisation of continental competitions: these include women’s and youth competitions,

as well as other football disciplines, such as futsal or beach soccer. Each confederation also
manages continental club competitions;
• Supervisory role: enforce compliance with the statutes and ensure that international
leagues or any other such groups of clubs are not to be formed without its consent and
FIFA’s approval;
• Representation functions: election of members to the FIFA Council, including female
representatives;
• Continental club licensing programmes;
• Continental coaching conventions and licensing programmes.

FIFA CONFEDERATION

• Laws of the Game (The IFAB) • Support to MAs • Continental competitions

• World competitions and development for national teams and
(national teams and clubs) • Fight against clubs;
• International match doping • Club licensing;
calendars • Fight against • Coach licensing;
• Status and transfer of match-fixing
players • Security and safety
• Relationship with IOC • Refereeing matters
and other international
associations
• Players’ agents
• Worldwide disciplinary and
ethics measures

The relationship between FIFA and the confederations is one that is characterised by cooperation
towards the same goal: the development of the game. To this end, FIFA tries to harmonise its
activities in a complementary way to those provided by the confederations.

Depending on the relevant confederation’s resources and capacities, some of the services and
development programmes that support the MAs might be delivered by FIFA, the confederation
or in partnership between the two. As a general suggestion, the TD should try to integrate to
the extent possible the support provided by both organisations in a coherent way.

76 TD Handbook
Other member associations
Collaboration and constant contact with colleagues from other countries is a must. While
some challenges may be country-specific, TDs or technical staff often face similar challenges
regardless of where they are based. As a result, they are often best placed to fully understand
the difficulties and challenges associated with the position. They can provide advice, share
personal experiences, or simply be available for informal discussions. Both FIFA and the
confederations regularly organise activities and events for TDs. These vary from confederation
to confederation. Mostly conferences are organised for all the TDs on the continent. Therefore,
it is generally very easy to meet other TDs and technical staff and to keep in touch with them.

National Olympic Committee and Olympic Solidarity

The National Olympic Committee is the institution that coordinates and supports the different
sport associations within a given country. Depending on the situation, it can be a strong and
independent organisation with considerable resources, or highly dependent on the ministry
of sports or other state institutions. Notwithstanding the nature of the National Olympic
Committee, establishing and maintaining working-level relations with it is part of the TD’s
role. It is to be noted that Olympic Solidarity (the International Olympic Committee body
responsible for sport development) offers free courses and scholarships to sport associations.
These can, for instance, be used to train coaches, referees or even MA staff. Requests have to
be made through the National Olympic Committee.

Other sport associations

Football is the number one sport in most countries worldwide and usually has access to more
resources than other disciplines. Nevertheless, this is not the case everywhere and the challenges
that other sport associations face on a daily basis are often very similar. Sports like rugby and
American football use a very similar infrastructure to football. Others like athletics require
very similar physical preparation. Finally, most sports require the organisation of courses and
seminars to train instructors, coaches and referees. Identifying existing synergies with other
sports can lead to the establishment of unexplored opportunities and an increased efficiency
in the use of existing resources. This may include, for instance, the exchange of experience
and information, higher coach education, common training camps at youth level and common
school programmes for academies.

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Non-governmental organisations
Non-governmental organisations often benefit from assistance from the state or external
organisations (UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the European Union,
etc.) and act on behalf of the government in very specific sectors, in particular, development
and assistance projects. These organisations have objectives that can be associated with
football development activities, for example:

• specialised support for disabled football by the Special Olympics;

• first-aid instruction by the International Committee of the Red Cross during training
sessions for coach-educators and schoolteachers;
• UNICEF health campaigns (e.g. education about malaria) linked to matches between
school establishments; and
• financial partnerships with the European Union for sporting and educational development
programmes.

Contact with the parents of youth national players

Although not a stakeholder per se, the parents of youth national players are a group of people
that should be given due attention by the TD. The age categories between 13 and 20 are
associated with very particular traits that need to be addressed through good interpersonal
communication. Establishing a direct line of contact with their players’ families will both
protect the players and reassure their families. Some of the themes to be addressed when
speaking with the youth players’ parents are:

• explaining the advantages and risks of a professional football career and the importance
of continuing education which will allow the player to pursue a career other than football
should he/she cease to play professional football;
• listening to their fears, reassuring them and explaining how their son/daughter will be
taken care of by their club and by youth national-team staff;
• managing expectations about the potential career path of their son/daughter and ensuring
that any decision by the family is based on realistic considerations; and
• explaining the role of player agents and avoiding excessive influence from their side.

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79 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 4
TOOLBOX

• Lack of direct contact with the relevant football personnel (club

officials, regional associations, etc.)
• Obtain the highest professional and personal recognition from
peers (coaches)
• Find the time to maintain quality contact with coaches, clubs
and other relevant institutions
• Explain technical needs to both expert and non-expert
Most frequent audiences and adapt the content and form
challenges • Integrate a good understanding of political dynamics while
remaining on non-political and strictly technical ground
• Understand the criteria for development programmes set out by
FIFA and the confederation
• Comprehend the range of services provided by FIFA and other
stakeholders
• Build a shared understanding across stakeholders (expectation
management)

• Highest level of technical expertise coupled with a good formal

education (if necessary, through adult education programmes)
• Excellent level of organisation enabling optimal time management
• Take advantage of any opportunity where target groups are
Necessary skills
gathered (e.g. coaching courses or seminars) to meet people in
and knowledge
person
• Capacity to understand international competition regulations
that are drafted in legalese
• Constant high level of information sources and networking

• FIFA Brochure “Capacity Building and Talent Development”

• FIFA SharePoint platform
FIFA support
• Regional technical consultants are always at the disposal of the
TD

80 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
EXTERNAL CONTACTS AND RELATIONS
Devote a good amount of time to reflect on your professional career.
Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges in this regard in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be?)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

81 TD Handbook
 5
ANALYSIS OF
THE FOOTBALL
ENVIRONMENT
82 TD Handbook
5. Analysis of the football environment

The Faroe Island Football Association’s experience

Pætur S. Clementsen, Technical Director, Faroe Island Football Association (FSF): “I
started in 2016, so it was quite early in my employment when we were planning for
the long term and, to be honest, I wasn’t that involved in discussing the bigger picture
of the strategy. But as the strategy had been accepted by the Executive Committee and
our clubs, we started planning in detail how we could achieve our technical goals and
objectives. To start, we produced a development plan for children and youth football.
We developed this in accordance with the project cycle concept, with particular focus
on situation analysis, getting the right people involved and making them feel part of
the process. The involvement of all stakeholders was absolutely critical in gaining broad
acceptance of the strategy among our clubs, coaches, board, etc.

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 The most challenging points occurred when the strategic document was finished and the
real work began by getting members of staff to work toward the shared objectives and
making the strategy a lively document. It is easy to get lost in everyday work tasks and
difficult to strike the balance between keeping a disciplined focus on reaching strategy
objectives and, at the same time, being open to new creative ideas from staff members,
which might be very good – but are they in line with our strategic objectives? It can also
be a pitfall not to be open to new ideas, which can actually help us reach our goals.

Another overall challenge is making all members of staff, in all departments, aware of
the strategy and accept our objectives. Even in a small association, it is challenging to get
different departments or areas (people) to work towards the same objective. A reason
for this is that we do not prioritise taking time to discuss the ‘bigger picture’. We’re so
busy with our own projects that we tend to get lost and lose track of what we’re trying
to achieve as a unit. It would help to have regular status meetings where we look at
the progress and evaluate our work in accordance with the strategy. This would allow
members of staff to get a helicopter view of all our activities and this could be beneficial
in terms of developing better cooperation across departments. Thus, with regard to the
project cycle concept, the implementation and monitoring phases have been the most
challenging.”

The two most common mistakes

There are two common mistakes made by newly appointed technical directors
(TDs). The first is the belief that you already know everything about the country
and its football. Although TDs do generally have widespread experience and
knowledge, there are always a number of elements that require further analysis
and understanding. Moreover, there are probably many stakeholders (within
and outside the football world) that need to be contacted to have a complete
picture of the potential opportunities.

The second mistake is self-imposed pressure and urgency. The eagerness to

deliver in the short term tends to push people to skip the analytical step because
it is considered a waste of time. Rushing into activities without first thinking,
analysing and developing a strategic document often leads to inefficiencies and
a waste of resources. The time spent during analysis is an investment that has
long-term returns.

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Planning progress
The FSF’s experience shows that planning is of primary importance and a fundamental
requirement for a TD. TDs need to be able to take football in their member association (MA)
forward from where it currently is, and this can only be done by skilfully using planning tools
and knowledge. The role of any TD as an architect of his/her football is about planning, by
both working on an overall technical plan and working out the details of smaller projects that
are part of the overall plan.

In an ideal situation, the TD would be responsible for an overall technical plan with all its
components and his/her staff for the elaboration (under his/her supervision) of plans for
smaller projects. However, since TDs are often alone and not equipped with enough qualified
staff, he/she has to do both. As a result, the reality very much depends on the size and the
development of the MA. If the TD works for a well-resourced MA, with staff in place to deliver
all the key functions of the department, the TD may have the time and be able to take a much
more strategic, hands-off approach, and he/she may have the time to focus on analysing what
is offered and delivered, through an effective monitoring programme. If the TD has a small
team and the MA has a limited budget, it is more likely that he/she will have to be much more
hands-on, with much less time to analyse, plan and monitor. This is not to say that planning is
any less important, but perhaps a reality of the role with limited growth potential for the MA.

Therefore, chapters 5 to 8 are very important. Without the ability to plan (e.g. budgeting),
the TD is not in a position to meet expectations. The TD does not have to be an expert in this
field, but has to realise his/her own strengths and weaknesses as elements of the leadership
framework and should learn that a beautiful plan might not come to fruition in the absence of
good leadership (see Chapter 9). If the TD handbook itself and corresponding workshops are
not enough help to the individual TD, FIFA’s support can be complemented with the guidance
of FIFA regional technical consultants.

The project cycle concept

We saw in Chapter 1 that FIFA recommends that all MAs develop a strategic plan based on
the project cycle concept, composed of four interrelated phases: situation analysis, planning,
implementation and monitoring. This is not only valuable for an overall strategy, but for all
mid- and long-term plans. Accordingly, the TD is an architect, he/she must therefore have the
know-how to plan for small and large projects.

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 5.1 Analysis of different football levels

Analysis of the current situation is always the first step of any project. It is impossible to know
where to go without first knowing where you are. The TD has to understand how the country’s
football level and disciplines are structured and organised, and what the key links between the
different elements of the game are.

Situation analysis (Chapter 5)

Where are we now?

Monitoring (Chapter 8) Strategy (Chapter 6)

Are we getting there? Where do we want to be?

Implementation (Chapter 7)
How do we get there?

Definitions

Football level: for the purpose of this handbook, the term “football level” refers to the kind
of competition (e.g. regional/national), a team’s status (e.g. amateur/professional) and the
age category of the related players.

Football disciplines: for the purpose of this handbook, the term “football disciplines”
defines the different ways football can be played, particularly 11-a-side (male and female),
futsal, beach soccer and other variations of the game used during training.

86 TD Handbook
When planning a project, a few questions can help to start the process. For example, if you
were to work on a grassroots development plan, the following questions could be discussed
and answered:

• How, why, when and where do children start playing football?

• Can the grassroots base be increased?
• What is the attitude of girls and their families concerning football?
• Who organises the activities, tournaments and competitions?
• What are the age groups or levels involved?
• How many teams per activity/event are participating?
• How many activities and games are played by a team over a season?
• What is the format of the games, festivals and competitions?
• What period of the year are the activities organised in? What consequences does this
have?
• What facilities are used (games, competition and training)? What is their availability?
• Are there additional pitches to further develop grassroots football (including training)?
• How many and what kind of referees are available?
• Who are the coaches? What is the level of coaching?
• How does a grassroots player continue to play later on, with which clubs and in which
competitions?
• What is the link between grassroots and youth competitions?

It is to be noted that the different football levels and disciplines can be under the responsibility
and/or control of different football actors. Generally speaking, there are three types of set-up:

Activities and games fully managed by the football association (e.g. grassroots directly
1
organised by the technical department)

2 Activities and games managed by affiliated bodies (e.g. amateur leagues, regional

associations, beach soccer leagues, etc.)

3 Activities and games managed by external actors (e.g. private academies)

Notwithstanding the different degrees of involvement and direct responsibility, the football
association retains the full regulatory powers and is responsible for the overall coordination
and harmonisation of the different domains.

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 5.2 Type of analysis

There are two main variables when it comes to the analysis of each football level. The first
is knowing exactly how activities, games and competitions are organised, and the second is
knowing more about the quality of football. According to the football level, the key analytical
factors might change. For instance, in grassroots and amateur football, where participation is
more important than the results or the quality of the games, it is fundamental to focus on the
practical aspects linked to the frequency and geographical distribution of the activities, festivals
and tournaments, because these can significantly impact how many players can access them.

Quantitative criteria
It is important to keep a record of the different activities available countrywide. In this respect,
a simple table like the one below for grassroots activities can be very useful:

Criteria

Number Number Number of

Period of
of players of teams games per
Organiser Age group activities
and game (per team over
(months)
format group) season

Example of possible answers

Regional
Association U-12 300 (9v9) 10-12 18-22 4-6/8-10
A

Regional
500
Association U-12 10-12 10-11 5-6/9-10
(11v11)
B

Regional
Association U-10 425 (7v7) 8-10 14-18 5-6/9-10
C

Regional
Association U-10 100 (7v7) 8 7 5-7
D

In grassroots football, with very few exceptions, the higher the number of participants and
games played, the better. The table can be completed following a workshop, a conference call
or on the basis of written questionnaires.

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Qualitative criteria
At other levels, it may be more relevant to analyse the quality of the game. This is particularly
important when it comes to elite youth and professional football and coach education. Here
the main variable is not the number of games played or training sessions held, but rather the
quality of the performance. Particularly for elite youth and professional football, the technical
analysis of top division games will provide a very good indication of the type and quality of
(youth) training programmes. This qualitative analysis is closely linked to the philosophy of the
game that the TD wants to develop for the MA as a whole. Some questions to consider are:

• How do the teams defend?

• How do the teams attack?
• How do the teams conduct the transition (both directions)?
• What about set pieces (free kicks, corners, etc.)?
• What are the team’s main technical, tactical, physical and mental strengths/weaknesses?
• What is the individual level of the players?
• What is the level of goalkeeping?
• How to develop player potential?
• What is the coaching level?

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 Example of analytical chart for team performance in elite youth football competitions

Quality of games U-15/16

X = Club teams U-15/16 Level: 4 = excellent 2 = average
O = Youth national-team U-17 3 = good 1 = poor

4 3 2 1
• Motivation, leadership, team spirit; O X
• Dynamic, speed; O X
• Construction, ball position, using width and depth; OX OX
• Attacking by wing positions; OX OX
• Efficiency in box (offensive); O X
• Transition (both directions); O X
• Zone defense and pressing; O X X
• Aggressiveness in 1v1 situations; OX
• Technical skills in movement. OX

The criteria for game observation should be based on a national football philosophy and
playing style.

If there is no national football philosophy, the criteria from different FIFA Technical Study
Groups could be used for the analysis.

The TD, together with youth national-team coaches or specialised game observers, can set up
scouting and reporting mechanisms for different categories. A yearly evaluation can produce
interesting results concerning the quality of play and coaching at the observed levels.

Analysis of individual performance

In some cases – particularly for elite youth football competitions and the youth national teams
– it can be useful for the TD and his/her staff to check the individual performance of players.
This is necessary for talent identification and may help to judge the influence of the coach
education programme and the quality of education in youth academies and/or training centres.

Criteria might include:

• Personality traits (motivation, learning capacity, relative age, etc.)

• Technical skills (e.g. ball handling)
• Tactical behaviour (in defense and attack)
• Physical strength (speed, constitution, etc.)
• Environment (e.g. support from parents)

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Example of analytical chart for individual performance in elite youth football

Performance profile1
Efficiency and performance factors
4 3 2 1

Technical skills

Basic skills

Technical skills under pressure

Tactics

1v1, offensive

1v1, defensive

Offensive game behaviour

Defensive game behaviour

Physical condition and constitution

Speed, sprint

Muscular strength, explosive power

Abdominal strength

Endurance

Robustness, health

Mental power, personality

Leadership

Relative age

Aggressiveness, winning spirit

Concentration

Positive thinking

Team player

1
4 = excellent; 3 = good; 2 = average; 1 = poor.

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 Analysis of coach education
Another important variable when it comes to analysing the football environment is to
understand the situation concerning coach education and player training. As we will see in
Chapter 7, developing a coach education framework for the whole country is one of the
TD’s key responsibilities. Before making any changes, it is necessary to assess how well the
national coaching education programme is working. The assessment should not focus only
on numbers, but should go deeper into the actual curriculum and how coaches learn and
apply their knowledge on the pitch. It is obvious that having thousands of licensed coaches
will only have a tangible impact if the quality of the teaching is of a certain standard and if the
techniques acquired by coaches during training and matchday are applied.

Example of analytical chart for coach education and coach activity at club level

Criteria Control tools Responsibility

Written reports of coach

Quality of coach education
educators and participants after
(several levels) Head of coach education/TD
each course; yearly meeting
with coach educators

Number of participants Department for player/

Statistics (yearly)
(several levels) coach registration

Coach activity rules and

Activity of coaches in clubs regulations. For example, TD/competition department
B-licence for U-16

Visits of youth national-team

coaches to clubs; written reports
Quality of training and coaching TD/senior national-team coach/
to TD; half-yearly meetings of
in clubs youth national coaches
all youth national-team coaches
(men’s and women’s)

The key to an efficient coach education system is the presence of a number of qualified coach
educators (and developers) that are able to respond quickly and precisely on the basis of
the game philosophy at coaching level (see Chapter 7). A coach’s qualifications, experience,
motivation and professional relationship with the football association has to be analysed,
because any of the coach educators’ weaknesses will be automatically reflected in their coach
education programme.

Analysis of player training

The best way to understand the practical link between coach education and the impact on the
pitch is to regularly observe the training sessions at higher club level (both senior and youth),
as well as official matches. This is particularly true for clubs who engage youth national-team
players, as they represent the future of the national-team and spend most of their training
time with their own club.

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 Analysis should be conducted on a continuous basis. It can be delegated to the youth
national-team coaches during their club visits.

Some of the criteria to be analysed are:

• Structure and schedule of the session (objectives, phases);

• Methodology (organisation, demonstration, coaching, feedback);
• Activity of players (motivation, concentration, responsibility, progression);
• Infrastructure and material.

The analysis focuses on how training sessions take place and requires frequent and regular
observation of youth clubs’ training sessions by technical department staff.

Example of analytical chart to observe a U-17 club training session

 ethodological construction of training sessions and

M
Assessment2
coaching techniques

Systematic alternation between play and training: application of game-

activity-game (GAG) methodology

Demonstration, explanation: the players understand the objective of the

training

Definition of groups, use of space and material:

small and homogeneous groups, high frequency of ball touches

Reinforcement and correction: precise and target-oriented feedback to

the players

Players’ activity

Motivation and responsibility: play and train in a focused way (quality)

Cognitive representation: memorise key movements

Installations and material (infrastructure)

Infrastructure/pitches

Material: many good balls, mobile goals, bibs, cones, etc.

2
4 = excellent; 3 = good; 2 = average; 1 = poor.

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In addition to the actual training session, the different weekly plans of the different age
categories should also be analysed. This type of analysis can be conducted online in a centralised
way and evaluated in meetings with club or league representatives.

Analysis of the club structures

Another important element for technical analyses is the level of structure and organisation
of the football actors that are directly or indirectly involved in youth football, including
youth departments at club level, football schools, regional associations, private academies or
community structures. Ultimately, only by ensuring the overall quality of the work by those
involved in youth education can the progress of future professional players (boys and girls) be
guaranteed.

The most important questions to be answered in this respect are:

• Do they have the right players (talent identification and recruiting structure)?
• Do they have the right coaches (experience and education of coaches and staff)?
• Do they have the right education programme (training priorities per age group/games)?
• Do they have adapted daily and weekly programmes (sport-school-leisure balance)?
• Do they have sufficient infrastructure (facilities and material)?

Further examples can be found in the FIFA Youth Football Training Manual (p. 244) or the club
licensing criteria at MA level.

5.3 Analytical tools

To help you to perform a precise

situation analysis, specific analytical
tools can be used. The initial analysis
and the information gathered will
represent the baseline of your project
and the starting point for the following
steps of planning and implementation.
By conducting such an analysis, you
will be able to develop a project plan
that is:

• realistic and achievable, having

considered your existing position,
resources and capabilities;
• supported by stakeholders; and
• carefully and broadly studied.

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 SWOT analysis
A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is probably the
most common tool to start a planning process. It involves assessing and identifying your
organisation’s strengths (in order to develop further) and weaknesses (in order to address them
and strengthen the project foundations) concerning any given project.

The knowledge generated, information collected and documents elaborated within the
context of the above-mentioned approaches in the situation analysis (quality and quantity) will
be the starting point of the SWOT analysis. From this perspective, overlaps and repetition are
not a problem. On the contrary, the more complete the previous analyses, the easier the SWOT
analysis will be. Importantly, it is not just a matter of listing different points, but also assessing
their impact on the organisation. For example, limited access to football facilities will hinder
football development at grassroots or elite youth level.

Example of a SWOT analysis for a grassroots development plan

SWOT analysis

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Children throughout Regional and local Good relationship Other sports

the country, in all football structures are and cooperation (basketball, volleyball)
provinces and regions, not well developed with government are dealing with
play small-sided games (department for government for
after school education) support

Small MA with Limited number of Support from FIFA No investment from

excellent relationships qualified coaches and and confederation for major sponsors for
with key stakeholders referees grassroots projects grassroots and youth
football

A grassroots football Not enough education Grassroots football The facilities available
manager works courses for grassroots is football for in all sectors, in
under the TD and is coaches everyone, by everyone, particular in rural areas,
responsible for the everywhere are poor with the
grassroots football exception of primary
department schools

You should consider conducting a workshop for the SWOT analysis. Such a workshop should
include a broad representation of participants from different departments and at different
seniority levels in the MA who can consider and discuss the findings. The participation of
members of staff is very important as they are in an excellent position to observe the MA’s
strengths and weaknesses from a day-to-day perspective.

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 Resource analysis
Another beneficial activity that is key to improving the chances of successfully implementing
your technical development projects is an analysis of the MA’s resources and capabilities, as
well as the identification of new opportunities for extra resources. As a first step, this involves a
self-assessment of the association’s financial resources, staff, infrastructure (including
equipment, vehicles, etc.) and other assets (IT, database, etc.) to understand what it can
realistically achieve with existing resources and avoid formulating unreachable goals.

Example of resource analysis for a grassroots development plan

Resource analysis

Type of resource Resources (examples) Comment (examples)

• Built over last two years

• Cash reserves for grassroots
based on the LTDP
development (USD 20,000)
• Executive committee policy
• FIFA Forward for grassroots
Financial resources • 25% of budget for
development (USD 50,000)
grassroots department
• Yearly budget (USD 10,000
for new grassroots
out of USD 40,000)
development plan

• Newly employed
• Full-time grassroots
• 20% job to work on
manager
grassroots development
• Part-time grassroots project
(master’s student)
Human resources manager
• Limited number of
• Regional grassroots
(qualified) regional staff
managers (volunteers)
• Part of grassroots
development plan

• For meetings, courses and a

big opening festival
• Fully equipped bus for
• MA technical centre
regional festivals (needs
• Minibus
substantial repair)
Infrastructure • IT database for grassroots
• Diploma work of high
• Balls for kids
school
• T-shirts
• FIFA project
• Discussion with external
stakeholders ongoing

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Inadequate resources and capabilities are often a major constraint on the achievement of the
planned objectives. That is why a resource analysis for every new project should be developed
with the head of finance and with the support of the general secretary (GS).

Stakeholder analysis
Chapters 2 and 4 focused on the importance of the TD’s internal and external relations with
football stakeholders in general. Although the coordination of the analytical phase for technical
projects is the responsibility of the TD and his senior staff, the whole process must involve the
relevant stakeholders and football actors for a specific project.

For every technical project, therefore, you have to decide on the stakeholders to be integrated in
the analysis and how and when to do so. This could be done under the guidance of the GS with
the support of a core group of people who participated in a stakeholder identification workshop.
The more participants, the more accurate the information and the more support will be available
in the future, especially for the implementation phase (see Chapter 7).

Actors within the MA

The TD should inform the GS, the president and all the senior staff of the MA that he/she is
proceeding with the analysis for a technical project. In some cases, they will facilitate contacts
with external actors, in others they will provide useful information about variables that relate to
their domain of expertise. A typical example would be that the marketing director can assess the
income-generation potential of a grassroots or women’s competitions and the finance director
could provide figures on the actual costs of existing competitions and/or tournaments. The staff
of the technical department should be informed. The members who are directly involved should
participate in the analysis, thereby promoting ownership and possibly increasing their level of
commitment and motivation for future activities.

External actors
As mentioned above, the TD should involve all the relevant football stakeholders, including
clubs, coaches, regional associations and private academies, in the analysis for bigger projects.
Although their status within the football association might differ greatly, the TD should establish
open and direct working-level contacts to enable a constant exchange of information with them.
Involving government representatives in the analytical process will enable the identification of
existing opportunities and potentially facilitate the allocation of funds and infrastructure. A
typical example of this would be the development of large-scale grassroots activities targeting
schools in cooperation with the ministry of education.

We recommend that you undertake the selection and the categorisation of stakeholders on the
basis of:

• their expectations with regard to your project;

• what they have to offer, whether tangible (e.g. participants, facilities, funding, human
resources, etc.) or intangible (e.g. communication, feedback, networks, know-how, etc.).

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When preparing your analysis, you should communicate with your selected stakeholders as
early as possible to inform them of the process and explain precisely why, how and when they
will be involved.

Typically, the most effective format for consultation with your stakeholders are:

• one-on-one meetings;
• telephone interviews;
• group workshops and forums; and/or
• questionnaires (conducted online or by mail, email or telephone).

Regardless of the form, the consultation will allow you to compare the stakeholders’ perception
of the situation with your impression of the situation based on the previous stages of analysis.
Furthermore, the consultation process will help you to understand the stakeholders’ situation,
as well as the main challenges they face. Finally, the consultation is an opportunity for you to
understand the stakeholders’ perception of your performance and gather their views on your
plan. This will allow you to undertake stakeholder analysis.

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Example of resource analysis for a grassroots development plan

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholder Stakeholder’s role/ Stakeholder’s Stakeholder’s Stakeholder’s

Categorisation: provider expectations of challenges resources
3 = high MA
1 = low
Regional • Organisation of • Financial support • Lack of • Direct contact
associations grassroots festivals, • Administrative resources with clubs,
3 competitions, support • Staffing schools and
tournaments with • Education of • Lobbying and communities
clubs and schools volunteers, networking • Regional
• Volunteer recruiting coaches, referees with grassroots
and education communities festivals
• Communication and schools
with communities • Recruiting and
and schools rewarding
volunteers

Clubs • Organisation • Education of • Grassroots staff • Direct contact

3 of grassroots grassroots • Infrastructure with players,
activities coaches/officials coaches,
• Communication • Material volunteers
with parents • Administration • Team structures
• Recruitment
of grassroots
coaches, referees
Communities • Infrastructure • Well-organised • Support for • Infrastructure
3 leisure activities several sports
for children

Government • Project support • Relevant • Support for • School

2 • Teacher education activities for several sports curriculums
education and • Independence • Teacher
health of sport education
associations

Public schools • Infrastructure • Well-organised • Teacher • Contact with

1 • Football activities motivation children and
curriculum • Support for teachers
several sports • Infrastructure
Sponsors • Advertising • Future customers • Marketing • Branding
1 • Material, • Attractive budget • Material
giveaways organisation • Suitable project • Sponsorship
manager fee
• Patience

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The final stage in the stakeholder analysis involves summing up and organising the information
gathered from the stakeholder consultation. This last step will provide you with crucial insights
to which you will be able to refer in further steps of the project planning process. To do so,
you need to transfer the information collected and summarise the stakeholder feedback in a
table, as illustrated above.

5.4 The outcome of the analysis

Analysing the current situation of a specific topic is not a purely academic exercise. It is
done with a clear operational objective and must represent the basis for the planning and
implementation phase of the project.

Usually, when conducting an analysis, a certain amount of raw material is collected (for
example, statistics, qualitative analysis, quantitative data, etc.). This material needs to be
ordered and compiled in a structured way. In case of a large amount of complex data, this
can open up the possibility/opportunity to collaborate with universities. In some instances, the
analysis will require continuous updates and assessments and will progressively transform into
a continuously updated monitoring tool (for more information on monitoring, see Chapter 8).

Technical analysis documents

Beside the detailed technical documents, it is always suggested that a short and descriptive
analysis of the football situation be produced so that it can be shared with the GS, the President
and the ExCo. The analytical document should be short and simple and should become the
basis for the discussions related to the development of the long-term strategy.

Below is a simplified visual example of an overall technical analysis of an MA to develop a

national development strategy.

Good
level
ADULT AMATEUR FOOTBALL

Intermediate
PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

level
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
GRASSROOTS

YOUTH ELITE
REG. YOUTH

REFEREEING
COACHING

Poor
level

100 TD Handbook
 The table below contains more details in relation to the above chart. It is intended to
demonstrate the potential assets and liabilities in a country. The football situation varies greatly
from one context to the other and the analysis has to be as specific and tailored as possible.

Football level Analysis Conclusions

Grassroots The country has a long and strong history of grassroots activities Very good level, definite asset
in all regions. All schools organise football activities (for children
aged six to 12) and the vast majority of the boys and about 30%
of the girls regularly play football. Very strong support from both
the ministry of education and the ministry of sport, as well as
parents’ associations.

Regionnal youth Only one youth tournament exists (U-17). There are ten teams, Very poor level, definite
all from the capital city. There is widespread age-cheating. There
football is no youth category beyond the grassroots level to which players
liability
can progress and many talented players are lost.

Adult amateur The number of amateur leagues reflects the great passion for Good level, asset
the game in the country. They are relatively well-organised
football countrywide and are structured in three different divisions.
Although some professional players do occasionally participate
in amateur tournaments (which is a violation of the competition’s
regulations), the nature of the leagues remains amateur in
essence albeit at a high technical level. Many youth players aged
between 15 and 17 join the amateur teams because they do not
have any other place to play and train.

Youth elite football The country regularly participates in U-17 and U-20 tournaments Intermediate level,
at international level. The youth national teams perform relatively
well and occasionally manage to qualify for the final stages of
improvements needed
the confederation’s tournaments. However, the selection and
training of young talented players is hampered by the absence
of a well-structured youth competition.

Professional The country’s premier league is well-organised, most of the Intermediate level, some
clubs are well-structured and the technical level is quite high.
football This is reflected by the good results of the senior national team.
serious risks identified
Nevertheless, the increasing number of foreign players means
there are fewer home-grown players on the national team and
it is difficult to find good goalkeepers and central defenders that
used to be the pride of the country. Clubs tend to buy players
from neighbouring countries rather than invest in local youth
players, which may be problematic in the long term.

Coaching Relatively good level of coaching education at professional Poor level, definite liability
level (good coach educators), but no criteria for amateur and
education youth competitions where there are a number of unqualified
coaches. There is no youth coaching licence in the country and
even the youth national-team coaches are poorly qualified.
Concerning grassroots instructors, the ministry of sports created
its own training programmes. However, these are managed
independently (the MA has no control which is unacceptable).

Refereeing The country has a history of excellence in refereeing and has Very good level, some
produced one of the top international referees at confederation
level. In addition, a number of young referees regularly graduate
improvements still possible
from the MA’s courses. Unfortunately, due to the absence of
a well-structured youth competition, the young referees must
often start in adult amateur competitions where the age
difference with the players may be significant. This sometimes
leads to young referees feeling very intimidated and some good
referees quit their career early on.

Women's The youth national teams have a good record at international Intermediate level,
level thanks to a broad player basis and good scouting.
football Unfortunately, the players stop playing at a very young age due
improvements needed
to the absence of a strong elite league and the need to pursue
their studies. The results of the senior national team are not in
line with the country’s true potential.

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5.5 Practical example

Below is a practical example of what it means to use the project cycle framework to carry out
specific activities. This is a case study of the creation of a U-17 competition and its integration
with all the relevant football levels. This example will be further developed in chapters 6, 7
and 8.

Creation of an elite U-17 domestic competition

The starting point is the analysis stage, which involves an assessment as presented in the table
above. To create an elite U-17 domestic competition, it is necessary to consider the current
situation, namely:

“Only one youth tournament exists (U-17). There are ten teams, all from the capital city. There
is widespread age-cheating. There is no youth category beyond the grassroots level to which
players can progress and many talented players are lost.”

In order to better understand the problem, it is necessary to consider the answers to some key
questions.

Why do only teams from the capital city participate in the tournament? Transport
1
costs make it very difficult for other teams to travel long distances.

Is it possible to create competitions in the different regions? Has this been done
2 before and if not, why not? A lot of football is played in the regions, mainly at
school and community level, but it is not organised by the regional leagues. In
some cases, this is due to a lack of resources; in others, it is due to a lack of
organisation.

Do the regional authorities support football? Could they do more? Most regional
3 authorities support football but cannot necessarily afford to cover travel costs of
privately owned teams. They would prefer to organise local competitions instead.

Why is there age-cheating? The reason for age-cheating is two-fold: players hope
4 that they will be scouted for the national teams and the clubs are focused on
winning at all costs.

Is there an efficient player registration system that can reduce the risk of
5 age-cheating? Not yet, but FIFA provides the FIFA Connect system that can easily
be put in place and that can drastically reduce cheating.

How many players could potentially be active in U-17 competitions? It is estimated

6 that there are about 20,000 youth playing at school level and 3,000 players are
potentially interested in joining more structured youth club competitions and
training regularly.

What is the state of the available infrastructure? Infrastructure is generally in poor

7 state, but there are pitches owned by religious organisations that could be used
for youth leagues. These are in good condition and have changing rooms.

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103 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 5
TOOLBOX

• Balance between pressure to deliver in the short term and the

need to plan in the long term
• Pressure to move on with activities at the expenses of a good
analysis
Most frequent • Availability of reliable statistics about players, teams, games,
challenges coaches, referees and officials
• Difficult communication and/or cooperation with other
departments in the MA (player licensing, competitions, regional
associations) and with the most important stakeholders
(regional associations, local authorities, sponsors)

• Use of standardised analytical methods (e.g. SWOT analysis,

resource and stakeholder analysis, national statistics)
• Ability to maintain contact, communication and network with
stakeholders
Necessary knowledge, • Ability to communicate with specialised and interested parties at
skills and experience universities
• Ability to use an electronic licensing system for players and
officials
• Good time management to ensure sufficient time is allocated to
information gathering and analytical work

• FIFA Connect (player licensing system)

• Support from the FIFA regional consultants
FIFA support • Reports of FIFA’s Technical Study Group
• FIFA manuals
• Technical ad hoc consultancies

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 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
ANALYSING A PROJECT
Spend time to reflect on your professional situation and work. Discuss your solution with your
mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges in this regard in the next months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be?)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/FIFA consultant/leadership cell/additional

networks)

(Who/how/what solutions?)

Set deadlines:

105 TD Handbook
 6
LONG-TERM
PLANNING
106 TD Handbook
6. Long-term planning

Having completed the situation analysis, you have identified the baseline of your project
by analysing your football environment. You now understand the strengths, weaknesses,
stakeholders, resources, opportunities and challenges linked to your project. You have
also defined possible actions and started thinking about responsibilities and priorities. It is
now time to clearly determine what your member association (MA) wants to achieve with
your project, and why and how it will be achieved. This is step two of the project cycle.

Situation analysis (Chapter 5)

Where are we now?

Monitoring (Chapter 8) Strategy (Chapter 6)

Are we getting there? Where do we want to be?

Implementation (Chapter 7)
How do we get there?

By formulating detailed objectives, you will have a strong management and communication
tool enabling you to motivate all your stakeholders towards a common goal and plan, but
first of all you will have to prioritise.

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 6.1 The need to prioritise

As we have seen in Chapter 3, the technical department is responsible for a vast number
of domains and each of them is important in its own right. However, there are very few
football associations in the world that have sufficient resources and manpower at their
disposal to be competitive in all football disciplines and able to invest consistently in all
domains relating to football development. Most MAs face constant shortages of money
or human resources and are not in a position to invest in all disciplines and football levels
at the same time. Decisions have to be made about where the available resources should
be invested first and why. It is a common mistake to develop overambitious projects that
prove unviable at the implementation phase because of a lack of resources.

This process is called prioritisation and defines which objectives are prioritised over others.
Prioritisation helps the technical director (TD) identify the core activities and maintain a
realistic approach during the development process over time.

Below is a simplified example of the prioritisation of development areas in a country with

a strong grassroots structure:

U-16 U-17 U-19 U-20

TOP PRIORITY LEAGUE LEAGUE LEAGUE LEAGUE

Coach Women’s
education league

MID PRIORITY
Futsal
Futsal
team

Grassroots
LOW PRIORITY
Beach soccer
Recreational

TIME

Please note that the above example is just one way of prioritising and does not represent
a standard template in any way. In a different scenario, grassroots or beach soccer might
appear much higher in the table. The way development aspects are prioritised differs
from one MA to another, because it greatly depends on the country’s specific situation.
For instance, a country where grassroots football is already strong will not need to invest
heavily in this area and will concentrate on other development aspects. Regardless, the
strategic plan (if one exists) should show the way forward.

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 6.2 Priorities, objectives and sub-objectives

The TD is responsible for defining and shaping the technical development projects in synchrony
with the association’s strategy. It is his/her responsibility to take the broad goals (priorities) and
expand them into an articulated plan over several years. To do so, it might be necessary to
translate each main goal into a sequence of related objectives or sub-objectives and further
develop these into an integrated set of activities.

Below is a simplified example of what the “Development of women’s football” priority could
look like:

Priority Development of women’s football

Main Youth girl’s U-17 Senior national

Grassroots
objectives league team team

Sub- 1. Mixed (boys and 1. Establish 1. Scout best 1. Plan to participate

objectives girls’ events) U-16 league in talented players in competitions and
cooperation with in the league friendlies
2. New ideas to schools and clubs
include and attract 2. Organise training 2. Facilitate passage
more girls 2. Train coaches and camps of best players from
referees youth teams
3. Sensitise families 3. Plan future
and school teachers 3. Support clubs participation in 3. Improve quality
with materials competitions and of coaches
4. Increase number friendlies
and locations of 4. Improve playing 4. Provide visibility
grassroots events facilities 4. Better visibility with larger audience
with larger audience (communications
5. Ensure medical (communications department)
follow-up department)

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The SMART principle
In the example above, main and sub-objectives are listed as a simplified set of desired outcomes
or proposed activities. You are now invited to develop the objectives and to define them in
full detail in a way that enables the TD and his/her staff to use them for implementation and
monitoring purposes. In order to do so, the use of SMART logic is recommended, which
means:

• Specific: the objectives are detailed in terms of “what” and “how” activities that will be carried
out. When reading the description of the objectives, it should be possible to clearly “visualise”
what concrete work will be conducted. Abstract and very theoretical objectives are not suitable for
implementation.

Example: create a girls’ U-16 league for next season.

• Measurable: the objectives can be measured with definitive or quantifiable methods.

While defining the objective, the TD must also define how success will be assessed and
should identify measurable benchmarks and clear performance indicators. As explained in
Chapter 8, these are the prerequisites for efficient assessment and monitoring.

Example: the U-16 league is composed of eight teams made up of a maximum of 25

players. Each team will play 28 games (home and away), plus play-off games (semi-finals
and final).

• Achievable: the objective must be achievable within the time frame provided. Overambitious
objectives are useless from an operational perspective, because they relate more to the sphere of
aspirations and dreams rather than reality. Objectives must be put in context and defined on the
basis of available human resources, money, past experience and the most common obstacles that
are encountered in day-to-day work.

Example: the eight participating teams will be selected among the women’s clubs that
already have a talent identification system and established relations with schools.

• Realistic: objectives need to be achievable and the realisation of these objectives depends on the
right people being aligned to specific responsibilities. For more information on human resources,
see Chapter 3.

Example: the youth league will be the responsibility of the technical department,
specifically the head of women’s football, Ms Alice Green.

• Time-bound: the objective is given a realistic completion date. The same variables mentioned for the
“achievable” point should be considered in terms of respecting deadlines. Past experience is usually
a good reference point when it comes to assessing the time needed to meet a given target.

Example: the league will kick off on 30 September and finish on 30 April. It will adopt an
eight-team format for the first year, after which it will be expanded to ten and 12 teams
during the following two seasons, with the inclusion of clubs from other regions.

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 6.3 Approval of technical projects

Before a project can move to the implementation phase, it must be validated by the MA’s
relevant bodies.

The first step is approval by the relevant committee (e.g. technical or development). The TD
should explain his/her programme in detail to the committee members and be able to cite
the correct arguments to persuade them to adopt it. It is always suggested that meeting
preparations involve approaching the committee’s chairperson and informally sharing the
main axes of the strategy, so that he/she will have sufficient time to digest it and be in a
position to understand and support it during the discussions.

In some cases, the committee will request further validation of its decision by the executive
committee (ExCo). In that case, the president of the committee (the TD if he/she has access)
will act as the rapporteur during the ExCo meeting. Once again, if the chairperson of the
committee is presenting the project, it is important to brief him/her thoroughly and produce
all the relevant information for an optimal presentation of the project. A bilateral meeting
with the general secretary (GS), even the president of the MA, will also clear the way for their
support during the discussion.

6.4 Action plans

Having defined where your MA wants to be, it is now time to take action. The process of
developing action plans is based on further breaking down objectives into more precise
targets and activities. To do so, you are invited to formulate action plans for each one. As the
objectives you have developed act as a road map for implementation, they can be used as the
basis for operational activities and tasks which your staff can work towards achieving.

Action plans improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your MA’s staff and stakeholders by
documenting what is to be done, by whom, how and when. They translate the objectives into
a powerful short-term management tool.

Involving staff and discussing if action plans or timelines are realistic, and if there may be other
tactics which could be employed more effectively are recommended. By involving staff in this
process, you also provide them with information ahead of the activities they will be engaged
in. This further integrates them as contributors into the project and ultimately motivates them
to take on a more active role in the pursuit of the MA’s goals.

The table below is a very simple tool that can be used to set the main objectives and break
them down into the relevant activities and responsibilities.

Person
Objective Activities Deadline Result indicator
responsible

Develop Organise a XX.XX.20XX John Smith, 1,000 boys and

grassroots grassroots event in (year 1) responsible for girls participate
football the capital city grassroots and in one-off event
(example) youth football

111 TD Handbook
 Person
Objective Activities Deadline Result indicator
responsible

Develop Organise a XX.XX.20XX John Smith, in 10,000 boys and

grassroots grassroots event in (year 2) cooperation girls participate
football the main regional with regional in the event and
(example) towns leagues 100 potential
instructors are
identified

Systematise XX.XX.20XX John Smith in 30,000 boys and

school football (year 3) cooperation girls play football
and create school with the on a regular
competitions Ministry of basis – at least
Education twice a week.

(Another practical example can be found at the end of this chapter.)

6.5 Yearly action plan

The importance of yearly planning

Long-term projects define expected results and related activities at macro level and over a
longer period (two to four years). Eventually, it needs to be translated and integrated into
a form that becomes the support for all operational activities. This form is usually the yearly
action plan that defines what will take place during the following 12-month period.

In most MAs, the yearly plan follows the calendar year (from January to December), in line
with the budget year. However, it can also be defined in line with the football season, provided
it is clearly stated.

Regardless of how the period is defined, the principle remains the same, which is to set out in
advance which activities need to be carried out, in a way that distributes the workload evenly
throughout the year and enables good coordination of interrelated activities.

From a TD’s perspective, the yearly plan should include the following:

• strong grassroots structure;

• courses for coaches and coach educators;
• seminars and refresher courses;
• meetings with national-team coaches (senior men’s, senior women’s and youth);
• national grassroots events;
• fixtures for the (elite) youth league(s);
• fixtures for the women’s league;
• training camps for youth national teams (boys and girls);
• fixtures (including friendlies) for youth national-teams (boys and girls);
• fixtures for the senior national-team (for information);
• courses for referees and medical staff (at least for information).

112 TD Handbook
Yearly plan: where to start
Beside the type and number of planned activities, there are several factors that have an impact
on a yearly activity plan.

Availability of people Availability of money

Planned activities

School and
national Competition
holidays Calendar

Competition calendar
Although technical development programmes do not usually target elite football, the
competition calendar (both national and international) does have an impact on planning. For
instance, when the senior national-team is playing, the whole MA is mobilised, including the
general secretary (GS), finance department, etc.

When defining the yearly plan, the FIFA match calendars should therefore be taken into
account, in particular with regard to periods of the year during which players have to be
released by their clubs in order to join their national-team. The FIFA dates are defined on a
four-year basis.

A similar approach should be adopted for the main fixtures in national competitions (domestic
cup final, big derbies) that could use up a lot of the MA’s resources and would make the
organisation of other activities (youth national-team games, courses, grassroots, etc.) more
complicated.

113 TD Handbook
School and national holidays
When planning yearly activities, all religious and bank holidays should be duly taken into
account, especially if most of the population is expected to travel or spend time with their
families. It is important to schedule development activities a few days after the end of the
holiday, so that preparatory work can be conducted with the full support of MA staff.

Availability of people
Development activities rely on educators, coaches, referees, medical services, school teachers,
players and sometimes the support of various general secretariat departments, and even
external organisations (government, non-governmental organisations, sponsors). A careful
and reasonable annual plan will make sure that the relevant people can reserve the dates for
the planned development activities well in advance. This is particularly important for people
with busy schedules, such as the MA’s president or the minister of sports, should they be
required to attend (e.g. an inauguration ceremony). From a management perspective, the
annual plan is a tool that enables to efficiently manage staff holidays and other types of
absences (e.g. studies, FIFA missions, etc.).

Availability of money
For the definition of the annual plan, it is not only important to know how much money is
available for development activities, but also when it will be available. The TD should be aware
of the association’s cash-flow needs and should coordinate closely with the GS and the head
of finance to make sure that the planned activities will receive adequate financial backing. The
following section deals with financial planning in more detail.

Financial planning
The yearly budget is the financial component of the association’s annual plan. Considering
the importance of money for the organisation of any activity, the TD should be fully aware of
the MA’s financial constraints and engage in close cooperation with the GS and the head of
finance when it comes to identifying the funds to be allocated to the technical department.

Initial proposal The TD (with his/her senior staff) proposes an annual plan of activities
based on the strategic plan and newly planned development projects.

Financial
The document is transmitted to the head of finance who in turn will make
assessment
a detailed assessment of the overall costs associated with the annual plan.
An exchange is likely to follow concerning required changes.

Approval The GS will approve the financial plan (usually after getting the green
light from the president, the ExCo and/or the relevant committee).

114 TD Handbook
To facilitate the finance department’s work and also to have a precise idea of the financial
component of the development activities, the TD should keep records of how much standard
activities cost on average (e.g. coaching courses, youth national-team games, grassroots
events, training camps).

For budgets that start in January, it is suggested that the action plan and any additional
contribution be finalised by no later than October (depending on the MA’s planning procedure).
This will allow sufficient time for the required discussions to be held and for the department’s
budget to be integrated into the MA’s overall budget.

A yearly budget is usually divided into cost types and cost centres that refer to the areas where
money is spent and to the department/unit in charge. TDs should be aware of the financial
rules related to their cost centres and respect the MA’s financial procedures.

Suggestion
There is never enough money and it is rare that there are sufficient
resources to cover all needs. Although revenue generation is not
part of the TD’s core responsibilities, it is also true that he/she
has a personal interest in looking for additional resources to fund
development activities. Therefore, establishing close cooperation
with the head of marketing and coming up with ideas and
suggestions for generating additional resources through available
means is a recommended strategy. In some cases, the youth
or women’s competitions can be adapted to make them more
interesting from a sponsorship or TV perspective.

115 TD Handbook
 Practical example: creating an action plan for a U-17 domestic competition
(continued from Chapter 5)

Objective: create a U-17 competition with regional representation over three years
Given the complexity of structuring the U-17 competition and expanding it to the ten regions,
the MA chooses to develop the plan over three years in order to have sufficient time to train
coaches, create links between regional leagues and local authorities, and identify focal points
who will be in charge of the organisation at regional level.

Activities Deadline Person responsible Result indicator

YEAR 1

Competition regulations
John Smith, responsible
Drafting and approving are in place, approved by
May for grassroots and youth
competition regulations the relevant committee
football
and understood by all.

Clubs know how to relate

Supporting clubs in terms Support from FIFA to young players and
of talent identification May and confederation for their needs. Scouting and
and training grassroots projects coaching standards are
defined and respected.

All players participating

Anne White, responsible in the competition are
Introducing a player
June for player status in the registered before kick-off.
registration system
Competitions Department Systematic age checks are
carried out.

A group of 15 committed
boys and girls is identified
Paul Green, responsible and receives specific
Selecting and training
July for refereeing within the education. A certificate is
referees
Competitions Department issued to those who fulfil
the physical and technical
criteria.

All fixtures are organised

Start of the competition on time and the
John Smith, responsible
in the capital city with ten competition runs without
September for grassroots and youth
teams that belong to the interruption. A champion
football
best Premier League clubs is declared at the end of
the season.

116 TD Handbook
 YEAR 2

Anne White, in
Register players in four About 800 new players are
May cooperation with regional
of the ten regions registered.
leagues

50 coaches receive training

corresponding to the C
Courses for coaches Technical Department
August licence.
and referees and Refereeing Unit
Ten new referees are
trained.

John Smith, in
All players participating
Starting from school cooperation with regional
in the competition are
football, create regional leagues. Additional
September registered before kick-off.
competitions in four of funding secured via FIFA
Systematic age checks are
the ten regions donations and support
carried out.
from local authorities

All fixtures are organised

on time and the
Paul Green, responsible
Selecting and training competition runs without
July for refereeing within the
referees interruption. A champion
Competitions Department
is declared at the end of
the season in each region.

YEAR 3

Anne White, in
Register players in all About 1,000 new players
May cooperation with regional
regions are registered.
leagues

60 coaches receive training

corresponding to the C
Courses for coaches Technical Department and
August licence.
and referees Refereeing Unit
12 new referees are
trained.

John Smith, in
Organisation of All fixtures are organised
cooperation with regional
competitions in all ten on time and the
September leagues. Additional
regions plus the capital competition runs without
funding secured from the
city interruption.
Ministry of Sports

YEAR 4

Play-off phase
organised in the capital Technical Department All fixtures are organised
city with the winners April with additional funding on time and a champion is
of each regional from a sponsor declared.
competition

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 CHAPTER 6
TOOLBOX

• High number of needs that make it difficult to prioritise

• Lack of planning tools at MA level (no strategy, no annual budget
in place) and erratic cash-flow management
Most frequent
• Involving relevant people in the planning process
challenges
• Lack of information on available financial resources
• Decisions by ExCo or government are taken at the last minute
• Political instability within the MA or the country

• Capacity to define and shape technical development projects in

synchrony with the MA’s strategy
• Experience to take the broad goals (priorities) and turn them into
SMART goals and an articulated plan over several years
• Capacity to explain in detail the challenges of the project to a
non-expert audience and to convince them of the well-founded
approach that is to be adopted
Necessary skills • Ability to visualise targets and intuit whether the course of action
and knowledge is correct
• Capacity not to be influenced by external pressure or make rash
decisions and base the decision-making process on facts and
figures from the situation analysis
• Capacity to foresee needs and problems, and discuss them with
the relevant colleagues or institutions
• An understanding of political processes and how to provide
timely and relevant input to make progress

• FIFA Forward Programme

• Support from FIFA regional consultants
FIFA support • FIFA’s individual mentoring programme for TDs to develop
specific leadership skills and knowledge

Confederation support • UEFA leadership retreat

118 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY
FRAMEWORK: PLANNING A PROJECT
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on your professional situation and work.
Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges in your project planning cycle in the
coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/FIFA consultant/leadership cell/additional

network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

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 7
IMPLEMENTATION
120 TD Handbook
7. Implementation

Having completed the situation analysis, you have identified the baseline of your project
by analysing your football environment. You now understand the strengths, weaknesses,
stakeholders, resources, opportunities and challenges linked to your project. You have
also defined possible actions and started thinking about responsibilities and priorities. It is
now time to clearly determine what your member association (MA) wants to achieve with
your project, and why and how it will be achieved. This is step two of the project cycle.

Situation analysis (Chapter 5)

Where are we now?

Monitoring (Chapter 8) Strategy (Chapter 6)

Are we getting there? Where do we want to be?

Implementation (Chapter 7)
How do we get there?

Implementation is probably the most difficult part of the project cycle. The objectives
and action plan you have developed act as a road map for implementation. Moreover,
responsibilities are clearly assigned, precise deadlines are set, and costs are estimated and
documented. Staff can now perform their activities with greater clarity, but a high number
of variables and challenges must be taken into account, some of which cannot always be
accurately foreseen.

Project implementation is a learning process. Working on a project may entail leaving the
day-to-day work to one side and exploring new fields, which can be very beneficial. The
benefits you should expect from implementing action plans within your MA include:
• staff that are motivated to achieve defined objectives;
• improvement in the department’s ability to develop and execute plans;
• improved time management and efficiency;
• better collaboration and communication within the technical department and
with other departments;
• improved department focus on its objectives and operations;
• empowerment of department staff to take an active role in developing football;
• an instilled sense of accountability and responsibility within the department;
• improved financial planning and responsibility; and
• improvement in how organisational and employee performance are measured.

Furthermore, you should also incorporate action plans into each employee’s job description
and yearly performance review.

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The importance of a realistic approach to implementation (R.E.A.L.I.S.M.)
When implementing a project, the TD must aim high while keeping his/her feet firmly
planted on the ground. Developing new programmes, particularly in small MAs that lack
human and financial resources, is a difficult task. Achieving results is often much tougher
than initially anticipated and the TD must always be aware of the practical obstacles that
he/she will face during implementation and try to anticipate them. Realism is demanded.

Realism is a very important principle of the implementation process which can be defined
as follows:

• Rooted in experience: the TD must start the implementation process based on what
he/she knows and has already experienced or what he/she knows from the experience
of others. The baselines (budget, number of activities, etc.) must be set in accordance
with information from previous analysis and planning steps.
• End results: the very meaning of implementing a project is to achieve concrete and
quantifiable results (see the SMART principle in Chapter 6). Implementation is of little
use if it does not achieve the expected results.
• Amendable: implementation must be adapted if the situation changes or unexpected
challenges present themselves. In many cases, the original project plan will have to be
updated as a result.
• Long-term: implementation has to be integrated into the long-term framework.
• Integrate all variables: all the key factors that can lead to success or failure must be
taken into account. It is important to be objective in the initial assessment and pay
particular attention not to overstate opportunities or underestimate risks.
• Short term: long-term planning is made up of a combination of short-term activities.
The meaningful integration of the short and long term is the key to a realistic approach
and successful implementation.
• Monitor: did we take the right path? What indicates that we are doing the right
thing? Did we make the right initial assessment? What has changed?

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Anticipation of foreseen challenges
Over the course of implementing a project plan, it can help to keep an eye open for emerging
difficulties. During your SWOT and resource analysis at the beginning of the project cycle, you
should have already anticipated numerous difficulties and challenges, but only reality will show
you how stakeholders understand and do their job, and if your budget plan can be fulfilled.

See what could happen in our U-17 competition project (continuation of chapters 5 and 6)
below.

Competition regulations (example)

There is a lack of competence within the MA concerning the drafting of the regulations. John
Smith is a very good technical person, but has never drafted regulations and appears lost. It
is already March and there is no trace of any draft. The Technical Director calls a colleague
from a neighbouring country who just implemented a similar project and he sends him his
regulations. With some adaptations, they can be used for the same purpose. The Technical
Director meets with the chairperson of the Competitions Committee who revises the draft
and gets it approved at the next committee meeting. Although delayed, the regulations are
ready. Smith organises a meeting with all Premier League clubs in the capital city and explains
the project and its phases. There is interest in participating in a U-17 competition from 12 of
the 16 clubs. A long discussion ensues about the number of teams allowed and eventually it
is decided that the number will go up from ten to 12.

Registration system (example)

FIFA Connect, the player registration system, is deployed, but Anne White, the person in
charge within the Competitions Department, is on maternity leave and there is nobody to
replace her. Time passes and nothing happens. After a meeting between the General Secretary,
the Technical Director and the Competitions Director, it is decided that a replacement will be
found. Although the person is not as competent as White, the registration process begins.

When all the players have been registered, several complaints are filed by clubs about
age-cheating. Some random controls confirm this to be accurate. The person in charge of
registrations used the documents provided by the clubs and did not conduct any cross-checks.
The whole registration process needs to be done from scratch. It is already August and the
competition is due to start in two weeks. After discussion with the General Secretary and
the Competitions Department, they decide to postpone the kick-off date until October to
allow proper age verification. Smith is asked to support the Competitions Department and
he contacts all the schools where the players study to verify the enrolment dates. After the
checks, 35 players are disqualified and six clubs are fined in accordance with the competition
regulations.

123 TD Handbook
Start of the competition (example)
In spite of the announcement of the fines being part of the regulations and the meeting
which was organised with the Premier League clubs, six of them decide to withdraw from the
competition in protest. The club owners also declare that they will not vote for the President of
the MA in the next elections. The President is angry with the Technical Director and asks for an
explanation. The Technical Director meets the President and the General Secretary to provide
all details about the problems encountered. He/she is supported by the chairperson of the
Competitions Committee (a close friend of the President) who is a judge at the Constitutional
Court and is very strict when it comes to respecting regulations. The President then calls the
clubs’ owners to discuss the issue and two of them apologise. They pay the fine and participate
in the competition. The other four – who have always been opposed to him – decide not to
take part in the competition. Following their withdrawal, the number of clubs participating
in the competition is reduced to eight. To compensate for the reduced number of fixtures, a
post-season knock-out phase composed of semi-finals and final is added to the calendar.

After a one-month delay, the first match takes place: the Vegetarian Lions beat the Vegan
Panthers 3-2. Over 500 students from neighbouring schools attend the match. National TV
and radio channels send journalists to cover the event that is described as the “first elite youth
match ever played in the country”.

Action plan development

Action plans and formulated budgets must be shared among all staff within the project to
ensure their effective implementation. In an ongoing process, development has to be regularly
monitored and evaluated, which links to the next step of the project cycle (see Chapter 8).
The results of the implementation should be documented in an action plan development
worksheet, which should include the activities, responsibilities and results of a project at the
very least.

Please see a practical example related to the implementation phase of the U-17 competition
project (continued from chapters 5 and 6). We will only focus on the first year.

124 TD Handbook
 Action plan development worksheet

Activities Deadline Person responsible Result indicator

YEAR 1

Competition regulations
John Smith, responsible
Drafting and approving are in place, approved by
May for grassroots and youth
competition regulations the relevant committee
football
and understood by all.

Clubs know how to relate

Supporting clubs in terms to young players and
of talent identification May Technical Director their needs. Scouting and
and training coaching standards are
defined and respected.

All players participating

Anne White, responsible in the competition are
Introducing a player
June for player status in the registered before kick-off.
registration system
Competitions Department Systematic age checks are
carried out.

A group of 15 committed
boys and girls is identified
Paul Green, responsible and receives specific
Selecting and training
July for refereeing within the education. A certificate is
referees
Competitions Department issued to those who fulfil
the physical and technical
criteria.

All fixtures are organised

Start of the competition on time and the
John Smith, responsible
in the capital city with ten competition runs without
September for grassroots and youth
teams that belong to the interruption. A champion
football
best Premier League clubs is declared at the end of
the season.

125 TD Handbook
 CHAPTER 7
TOOLBOX

• Defining clear priorities in line with the national football

philosophy and coherently integrating activities into the project
• Obtaining the required resources and maintaining funding
throughout the organisation of the activity
• Applying the action plan as per the road map
• Coordinating the different actors within and outside the project
Most frequent
• Ensuring department staff take on an active role in developing
challenges
football projects
• Promoting effective collaboration and communication within the
department and with other departments
• Running regional associations efficiently
• Ensuring clubs understand regulatory content
• Dealing with unforeseen obstacles and difficulties

• A mix of technical, strategic, analytical and practical skills that

enable activities to be held and results to be achieved
• Outstanding organisation and communication skills enabling the
coordination of different actors
Necessary skills
• Good time management
and knowledge
• Excellent relationship with the GS and chairperson of related
standing committees
• Give effective feedback: praising good performance and offering
corrective suggestions

• Technical manuals and DVDs: youth football, women’s football,

grassroots development, beach soccer, futsal, goalkeeping,
fitness
• FIFA Technical Leadership Programme
• Technical and organisational support at regional level (FIFA
FIFA support
regional technical consultants)
• Technical and organisational support through external experts
and consultants
• Participation in the funding of grassroots festivals, as well as
local youth and women’s competitions

• Financial support
Confederation support
• Club licensing programmes

126 TD Handbook
 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on your career. Discuss your solutions with your
mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges in this regard in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

127 TD Handbook
 8
MONITORING
AND
EVALUATION
128 TD Handbook
8. Monitoring and evaluation

Chapter 8 focuses on the last phase of the project cycle: monitoring and evaluation.¹
As important as planning and implementing a project plan are, without monitoring and
evaluation of the implementation, it is nothing more than a static situation.

Situation analysis (Chapter 5)

Where are we now?

Monitoring (Chapter 8) Strategy (Chapter 6)

Are we getting there? Where do we want to be?

Implementation (Chapter 7)
How do we get there?

From a technical director’s (TD) perspective, monitoring and evaluation ensure that the
quality of the activities organised is in line with the defined objectives and that relevant
feedback is received based on the results of said activities in order to plan for the following
project cycle. It is a very important general task for the TD and an integral part of any
project and all major activities within the technical department. It is worth considering
instituting systematic monitoring for an annual progress review.

As exemplified by the diagram above, such monitoring becomes the starting point for the
analytical phase for the next period of long-term planning and provides practical input
and case studies on what went right or wrong.

¹ The term includes similar, complementary and related concepts such as quality control, outcome analysis and
assessment. Monitoring is an ongoing process to see if activities are on track. Evaluation is done on a periodic
basis to measure success against the objective.

129 TD Handbook
8.1 Monitoring implementation

How will you know if you have achieved the project’s objectives? Once you’ve broken
down your objectives into key activities, you need to define how to track them as well as
the main impact of your project. This is called monitoring and it should be done from the
beginning. Monitoring is an activity that ensures that the implementation and progress of
the project are accompanied and supported. On a personal level, this ensures that relevant
parties are driven and always held responsible and accountable for the execution of the
action plan.

The benefits of monitoring are:

• ensuring that the project’s action plans are being executed as planned;
• continually reinforcing the project among staff;
• acting as an early warning system to identify and anticipate potential problems and
risks, allowing time to manage and navigate;
• encountered problems have to be clearly stated and analysed in detail. Only by
identifying obstacles is it possible to improve in the future;
• providing guidance to recover and get back on track when problems arise;
• improving communication within the member association’s (MA) technical organisation
and with its stakeholders;
• instilling a strong culture of discipline, accountability and responsibility among staff;
and
• acting as a tool for employee performance reviews.

The first aspect of monitoring is to ensure that the project plan is utilised as a dynamic
management tool and not just confined to a shelf. It must continually be used as a guide
and road map for activities. Using the plan is critical to implementation and, in many cases,
the absence of monitoring is the underlying factor leading to an unsuccessful project.

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The second aspect that should be considered is how often monitoring is carried out. You should
monitor the performance of your project plan on a regular basis. The frequency of monitoring
activities and meetings depends on the nature of the project. For new youth competitions,
that may be quarterly; for a new coach education programme, yearly. To ensure that your
monitoring discussions or meetings are effective, they should be strictly for discussing the
project and should not include discussions of other matters or be an agenda item as part of
another meeting.

The main tools for following and supporting implementation are discussions and meetings.
These must be well organised. Before you hold project plan monitoring meetings, each head
of department should complete an evaluation worksheet and forward it to the TD or another
designated project head for review. The project head is required to indicate the completion
percentage of the task on this project monitoring worksheet. He/she may also note any
relevant issues which have arisen.

Project monitoring worksheet

Member association: Evaluation date:

Department or key function area: Head of department:

Goal:

Objective:

Action plans Milestone date Responsibility Measure/KPI Completion status

(and expected (circle one or type different)
completation date)

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Every objective that can be marked as “completed” is a step forward for the MA in terms
of achieving goals. Every major success can be formally noted by management and then
communicated to the relevant stakeholders.

131 TD Handbook
8.2 Evaluation

One of the main objectives of step 4 of the project cycle is the assessment of the actual outcome
against expected results. Evaluation must compare the results of implementation against its
goals and objectives. By comparing what was planned with what actually happened, we learn
what is working well and what has to be changed in the future.

Some of the basic principles behind evaluation exercises include:

• always keeping in mind what the expected outcome was before the activity was organised;
• not overstating or understating numbers or outcomes. Evaluation is not meant to justify
oneself vis-à-vis direct superiors. It serves as a strategic management tool and is the
foundation for future decisions, so it must be based on facts;
• encountered problems having to be clearly stated and analysed in detail. Only by identifying
obstacles it is possible to improve the activity in the future;
• keeping it short and straight to the point: assessments serve an operational purpose; and
• leaving a written record for future reference, otherwise the exercise will be forgotten and
lost.

The stakeholders involved in implementing the plan, as well as the senior management
responsible for executing it, should come together in a workshop format to review the project
plan and evaluate its implementation. For each goal, the following must be considered at this
workshop:

• Are the objectives and plans still relevant and realistic?

• What issues and constraints, if any, have arisen that may prevent the goal from being
reached?
• Should the target be revised either in terms of content or time?
• What tasks have been carried out towards achieving this goal?
• What financial resources have been used to date?
• What remains to be done to complete the project within the time frame?

A written record should be made of the outcome of such a discussion or workshop. This can
later be presented in committee or Executive Committee (ExCo) meetings, and sometimes
even used in the MA’s annual report.

132 TD Handbook
 Practical example: creation of a U-17 competition (continued from Chapter 7)
The evaluation phase of the U-17 competition project, in which the expected results defined
at the planning phase are compared with what actually happened, is presented in the example
below.

Result indicator Assessment Comment

Competition regulations in High-quality regulations enabled dispute Lack of capacity within the MA
place, approved by the relevant resolution and the maintenance of a regarding regulatory matters:
committee: respected and good level in the competition. There it is suggested that the issue
understood by all were some delays in drafting but with be addressed in future by
no major negative impact. contracting an external expert
on an ad hoc basis.

All players participating in the Delays in the registration process and The Competitions Department
competition are registered before lack of controls represented a serious to appoint a competent person.
kick off. Systematic and thorough threat to the project, causing delays New rules on player registration
age checks to be carried out and strong tension with some clubs. must be established to prevent
age-cheating.

All fixtures are organised on time The delay to the kick-off date and need For the following year, no
and the competition takes place to change the competition format at the major obstacles are expected at
without interruption last minute created some problems, but competition level in the capital
otherwise fixtures were respected, with city.
only some minor issues.

Additional elements to be monitored and assessed

Level and quality of referees (assessed in cooperation with the Refereeing and Competitions
Departments): generally speaking, the referees were not prepared for the high level of the
competition. There were many contested decisions and some referees did not have the ability
to officiate games under pressure from the public.

Action taken: additional training and recruitment have to be scheduled for the following
year.

Level of the game and players (assessed by the Technical Department and coach educators):
the majority of games were assessed using an analytical chart for team performance (see
section 5.2). The results were included in a database and show clear strengths in technical
skills and clear deficiencies in construction of the action and ball position.

Action taken: introduce changes to coach education content.

Level of coaching (assessed by the Technical Department and coach educators): Some training
sessions were assessed, showing a varying degree of capacity by the technical staff at club
level. Some coaches were not qualified for their position at elite youth level.

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Action taken: update the requirements for the coach licensing system and organise refresher
courses before the beginning of next season for these categories.

Communication approach (managed by the Communications Department): very good

coverage of the fixtures by radio. TV covered the first game and the play-off phase, with the
final broadcast live. Clear interest by the printed media and great success on social media, in
particular on Facebook and Twitter. Generally speaking, the visibility of the competition was
very good.

Action taken: Marketing Department to contact potential sponsors to exploit the high level
of visibility.

8.3 Monitoring grassroots

Monitoring and evaluation are directly related to the previous phases of the project cycle
(analysis, strategy and implementation), and the themes that were the focus of activities. This
may, of course, be different for each MA and greatly depends on the long-term development
plan. Nevertheless, some themes constitute the core business of any TD’s work and will always
need to be evaluated. They include grassroots, the coach education programme and youth
football.

As mentioned several times in this handbook, grassroots activities are the bread and butter
of any TD and evaluating the outcome of festivals and other grassroots programmes year
on year is one of their key tasks. As we saw in section 5.2, grassroots level is primarily
associated with quantity indicators. Numbers are a good benchmark of success because they
indicate participation (number of players), opportunities (number of games and festivals) and
geographical distribution (number of regions/provinces).

Below is a simplified graph that can be used to monitor and evaluate grassroots activities:

Target
fully met
EVENT FOLLOWED BY NATIONAL TV
TOTAL PARTICIPATION 20,000

Target
partially met
CRITICISM FROM SOME
7 REGIONS COVERED

40 NEW EDUCATORS

RADIO STATIONS
AND RADIO
IDENTIFIED

Target
not met
5-10%
GIRLS

Example of assessment for nationwide grassroots festivals

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 Target partially met
Targets

Target fully met

Target not met

Initial objective Outcome Comments

Primary targets

Technical skills under A total of 20,000 boys The very high level of
pressure for a three-day and girls participated. participation caused some
X
grassroots festival minor organisational
problems.

Cover all ten regions Only seven out of Roadblocks (bad weather)
and about 50% of the the ten regions were prevented the event
primary schools covered. Within each from being held in two
region, about half of the regions. Another region X
schools participated. did not participate due to a
communication problem with
the Ministry of Education.

Ensure participation of at 5-10% of the Families prevented girls

least 30% girls participants were girls. from joining the grassroots
X
festivals despite their
interest.

Identify 30 educators to Around 40 educators Great interest from the

replicate the activity at gave availability for educators. Around ten are
community level similar activities in their experienced and participated
X
community. in courses. The rest needs
to be trained further before
they can work autonomously.

Secondary targets

Improve the visibility All the regional radio Great popular participation
of development stations made special and excellent coverage
programmes broadcasts. The event by local and national
was shown on national broadcasters. The X
TV. communication campaign
of the association was very
efficient.

Improve the MA’s image Credit shared with the Some local broadcasters
Ministry of Education. kept mentioning the senior X
national team’s bad results.

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 In the above example, it is clear that the activity generally achieved the expected results.
However, despite massive success with boys, the participation of girls was below the set
objective. This is the main issue to be addressed ahead of the next round of grassroots
festivals. Other relatively minor issues, such as the communication problems with the ministry
of education and the radio stations’ insistence on mentioning the national team’s poor results,
can also be taken into account. One problem (the roadblocks) was clearly beyond the MA’s
reasonable control.

The above is just an example that can be adapted to the type of activity and the specificity
of the country. With the necessary changes, it can be used to evaluate similar activities (e.g.
amateur football).

8.4 Monitoring coach education programmes and coaching licences

The number of courses and coaching licences within a country is a good indicator of the
motivation and the work conducted by the technical department. An MA that organises 20
courses per year is indeed more dynamic than one that organises two or three. However,
quantity alone (e.g. number of educators, number of courses organised, number of licensed
coaches at different levels) is not a guarantee of results and needs to be measured against the
quality of the teaching.

Quality control will ensure that participants actually learn the key concepts on the course
curriculums and that this new knowledge is used and applied on a daily basis during training
at clubs or schools.

Quantity and quality can be measured through statistics and ad hoc evaluation. Below are some
suggestions for the main criteria to be taken into account and the tools used for assessment.

Criteria Tools Person in charge Format

Quality of the education Observations, reports Head of coach education Paper/electronic reports
sessions on coaching and feedback from coach and/or TD together with the
courses educators, participants PowerPoint presentations
and – in the long term – used during training
clubs

Number, level and profile Precise statistics and Head of coach education Paper/electronic reports
of the participants at profiling (ideally with the and/or unit in charge together with the
different levels use of a database) of the IT and database PowerPoint presentations
systems used during training

Implementation of the Control of diplomas Technical department, Cross-check information

coach licensing system league and/or club (database and information
licensing department from clubs)

Coaches’ activities at club Assessment during Technical director, head Checklists that can be
level selected/random visits to of coach education and/ organised into statistics
clubs or another person with or other support based
sufficient experience on the MA’s football
philosophy

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 It is to be noted that the level of the coaching course must be in line with the identified needs.
Therefore, when we speak about quality, it does not mean that all the curriculums must be at
pro-licence level. The content of each course must be assessed according to initial objectives,
the experience of the participants, as well as the coach licensing level (A, B, C, etc.). Quality
means efficiency in delivering the course content and adapting it to the type of audience and
their capacity to learn.

It goes without saying that the person in charge of assessing the results of the education
programmes should have some degree of independence and should not be the same person
that organised the activity.

8.5 Monitoring youth football development

Another typical domain that requires systematic monitoring and evaluation is the evolution
of the quality of the game at elite youth level (U-17/19). This type of activity is directly linked
with the assessment made during the first phase of the project cycle (see Chapter 5). While
the first assessment identifies certain technical, tactical, physical or mental weaknesses to
be addressed, the second assessment (during the monitoring phase) evaluates the level of
improvement after an action (one season) is taken.

Implementation Monitoring
Analysis phase Strategy phase
phase phase

No common game Definition of common Introduction of new Analysis of change

philosophy ground for: training techniques during youth league
• Offensive game through workshops, games and evaluation
• Defensive game development of of outcomes through
• Transition teaching materials and an evaluation grid
observations

The above is, of course, just a simplified example and monitoring will be defined according to
the type of expected outcomes and activity that it relates to. In the long run, the monitoring
and analysis phases will greatly overlap. In addition, for certain key technical issues, the TD
will decide to establish an ongoing monitoring mechanism that will constantly evaluate the
situation.

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 Below are some suggestions for the main criteria to be taken into account and the tools used
for assessment.

Criteria Tools Person in charge Format

Youth national-team Results of the fixtures, TD, and person Analytical report
results assessed in light of confederation ranking/ responsible for youth containing annotated
the objective set for the coefficient, where national teams and figures
match and the opponents’ applicable national-team coaches
level

Youth national teams’ Game analysis that takes TD and person Reports and animated
quality of play from a the MA’s playing style responsible for youth analysis
technical and tactical into account national teams
perspective

Quality of play during Game analysis that takes TD, person responsible Reports and animated
elite competitions the MA’s playing style for elite youth analysis
(U-15, U-17 and U-19) into account competitions, coaches of
youth national teams and
head of coach education

Physical condition of elite Relevant physical tests Competent staff in the Test results with
youth players (national technical department and comments
team and club level) at clubs

Number of youth players Player licence database Competent staff in the Statistics with comments
recruited by senior elite technical department
clubs (1st and 2nd division) in cooperation with the
competitions department

Other relevant criteria include:

• number of players who join the youth national team (to assess the
level of each football academy);
• level of development at youth teams within professional clubs;
• income generation through the sale of home-grown players;
• level of goalkeeping training;
• percentage of qualified elite youth coaches compared to the total
number of coaches in the country; and
• elite and grassroots youth league structure.

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 8.6 Monitoring Women's Football

Women’s football is typically another domain of technical development that is regularly

monitored and assessed by the TD.

Below are some suggestions on the main criteria to be taken into account and the tools used
for the assessment.

Criteria Control mechanisms Person in charge Format

Women’s national-team Results of the fixtures, TD and person Analytical report

results in light of the FIFA ranking responsible for the containing annotated
objectives set for the women’s national teams figures
matches and level of the
opponents (both senior
and youth)

Women’s vz vs’ quality Game analysis that takes TD and person responsible Reports and animated
of play (both senior and the MA’s playing style for women’s football and analysis
youth) into account national-team coaches

Physical condition of the Relevant physical tests Competent staff in the Reports and animated
players technical department and analysis
at clubs

Physical condition of the Relevant physical tests Competent staff in the Test results with
players technical department and comments
at clubs

Number of youth players Player licence database Competent staff in the Statistics with comments
recruited by senior elite technical department
clubs in cooperation with the
competitions department

Other relevant criteria include:

• number of female coaches at different levels and percentage
of total number of coaches; and
• number of youth players recruited by senior elite clubs (many
female players stop their career at a relatively young age).

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8.7 The supervisory role of the committees and management responsibilities

The monitoring phase of the project cycle is not only related to the management supervision
that is conducted by the technical department and the general secretariat, but it is also
directly linked to the supervisory roles played by the ExCo and the relevant committees that
we can define as “statutory supervision”. The chart below describes the interaction between
“management supervision” (blue line) and “statutory supervision” (red line).

General assembly

ExCo GS

Development committee TD

Technical department

Staff in regional associations

As you can see, the TD is linked by three arrows: he/she has to report to the relevant committee
(statutory supervision), is supervised by the general secretary (GS) and supervises the technical
staff (both management supervision). The monitoring phase will provide input and material
for these three key links.

The supervisory role of committees

As we saw in Chapter 2, in addition to advising and assisting the ExCo in fulfilling its duties,
the standing and ad hoc committees should play an active role in approving and supervising
the work conducted by the general secretariat and the departments but not intervene in daily
business. In any given MA, there might be a number of technical-related committees and the
TD must be fully aware of his/her reporting duties.

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Committees meet two to three times a year on average, therefore their supervisory role is at
macro level. In essence, it concerns whether the project plans have been implemented or the
daily work is done well. The monitoring and evaluation role is mostly based on reports and/
or presentations to the committee (statistics, analysis, quantitative and qualitative data, etc.).

Management supervision
Management supervision is one of the primary responsibilities of the GS and it concerns the
assessment of how the senior management of the general secretariat as a whole has advanced
in the achievement of the identified objectives. Management supervision is the process that
defines whether each identified objective or its components has been carried out according to
plan. The indicators for the assessment usually include:

• Time: were deadlines respected? If not, why not?

• Quality: was the outcome in line with expectations? If not, why not?
• Efficiency: how was the activity carried out and what were the organisational challenges
(internal/external communication, validation processes, contact with third parties or
regional associations, etc.)?

Supervision of the technical department

Supervision, monitoring and mentoring of technical staff is one of the TD’s primary responsibilities
(see chapters 3 and 9). In cases where the employees have high levels of autonomy, they will
be assessed on the overall outcome related to the goals or objectives that were assigned to
them and that should be clearly stated in their job descriptions (e.g. organisation of youth
league, grassroots development, development of futsal, etc.). Otherwise, they will be assessed
on the basis of fixed benchmarks related to their efficiency (e.g. capacity to meet deadlines,
rigour in carrying out tasks, leadership, personal commitment, etc.).

It is to be noted that the process should be a learning and development tool and help staff
adapt and improve their working methods in the future (see Chapter 9). The failure or partial
implementation of given activities is not always related to individual faults. In order to analyse
the root causes, you have to look into some of the following:

• Were the tasks sufficiently clear and precise (quantitative and qualitative) to provide
guidance for the staff or enable an objective assessment? Were they formalised in writing?
• Did unpredicted external factors jeopardise the activity (e.g. budget cuts, withdrawal of
teams, etc.)? How can these be minimised in the future? How can the situation analysis
be improved?
• Better internal communication and clarity of roles can improve efficiency. How should
people communicate?
• If the activity is new, were there foreseeable gaps in the training and knowledge of the
staff? How can these aspects be addressed in the future?
• The above analysis will also provide valuable information for assessing the performance
of technical staff and their professional growth (for relevant mentoring techniques, see
Chapter 9).

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 CHAPTER 8
TOOLBOX

• Explaining the importance of monitoring and constant evaluation

to all relevant staff
• The identification of staff members with objectives and
performance indicators
• Taking enough time for monitoring tasks
• Drawing a clear line between “management supervision”
Most frequent
and “statutory supervision” and defining the clear division of
challenges
responsibilities between technical departments and related
committees
• Creating the possibility to discuss failure or unachieved targets in
an objective way, without personal blame
• Clearly define and follow up with tools to track levels of
accountability (task management)

• Use of the correct methodology (e.g. checklists and analysis tools

adapted to the type of assessment)
• Hands-on experience that provides the basis for improvements
year after year and enables the creation of institutionalised
practice
• Capacity to delegate non-essential tasks (e.g. administration)
and concentrate on the core business (e.g. visits to clubs and
Necessary skills
regional associations, relations with coaches)
and knowledge
• Delegation of responsibility to staff over time
• Contact and collaboration with specialised professionals (e.g.
research centres and universities)
• Capacity to present in an efficient and concise way to
the president, ExCo, GS and the general public (including
presentations to committees, annual reports, media information
material, etc.)

• FIFA regional technical consultants

FIFA support
• FIFA capacity-building and individual mentorship programme

Confederation support • Confederation TD or regional officer

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 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
PROJECT MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on your professional situation and work.
Discuss your solutions with your mentor.

What are or will be your main challenges on project monitoring in

the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What knowledge or skills will help you to perform well in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/FIFA consultant/leadership cell/additional

network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

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 9
HOW TO GROW
PROFESSIONALLY
144 TD Handbook
9. How to grow professionally

Like any other senior manager, the technical director (TD) has the professional need to
constantly build on his/her knowledge, skills and experience to become a real expert in
the job.

First of all, there is a professional obligation to improve. Local and world football is
changing. Anybody who watches a match from 20 or 30 years ago – even a non-expert
– can clearly see the striking difference with today’s game in terms of speed, tactics,
collective play and individual technique. Similarly, development activities like grassroots
football in clubs, schools or communities have reached an incomparable scale.

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Alternative football disciplines such as futsal and beach soccer are on the up. Moreover,
football is growing professionally by the day. Member associations (MAs), regional
associations and clubs help their staff to grow professionally and the collaboration with
other branches (academic institutes, scientific research, psychological studies) is more
intense than ever. Generally speaking, football is becoming more complex and dynamic
at all levels and everybody is now obliged to have a good understanding of key aspects,
such as management, marketing, finances, communication, social media, etc. rather than
purely technical ones. All the above requires a constant effort from the TD to continuously
learn and share knowledge with his/her staff and collaborators, involving them in the
learning process.

Secondly, every TD must be personally motivated to improve. Just like a player or later on
as a coach, the TD is a key leader in every MA and must seek to be the best he/she can
be. All TDs must aim to improve their capacity and effectiveness and to take ownership of
their development within our ever-changing game.

This chapter will provide some ideas and suggestions on how to grow professionally, both
on the technical side and concerning other skills and knowledge that are relevant to the
position. Although the TD’s day may start early, finish late and weekends might be spent at the
stadium or at pitches in the regions, being able to find sufficient quality time for learning and
self-development is fundamental. The TD’s job is challenging because excellent technical
expertise must be combined with sound leadership skills and outstanding communication.
The ideal situation would be to have a personal action plan to grow, supported by the
general secretary (GS). Very few people possess all the qualifications for the position and
most must work hard on one or several domains to be perfectly proficient.

The elements and characteristics of professional expertise

To fulfil a special set of tasks and to achieve a strong performance, every leader needs
knowledge and skills, both based on practice and experience.

Knowledge Skills

Set of tasks,
performance

Experience

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Due to the complexity and dynamics of modern football and its leadership, a TD’s knowledge
must be both specific and extensive. Most TDs are former players, coaches and/or instructors.
They have knowledge and experience of many technical matters in elite football, but what
about grassroots football, coach education and alternative football disciplines? What about
the leadership and management side of the position? The challenging role of TD demands
knowledge of management, planning, finance, education, communication, marketing and
much more. These elements of knowledge have to be organised in bigger units. Creating
a new competition for elite youth, for example, connects knowledge of football and player
development, coach education, administration, finance and so on.

With such a challenging job, the TD must also have a well developed skill set. Carrying out
projects, leading, convincing and improving others is not possible without a set of mastered
attributes. Communication, teaching, planning, self-learning, leading and mentoring skills
have to be combined with soft skills, such as empathy and team-building. Self-learning is
possibly the most useful quality.

Knowledge and skills can be learned in books and on courses. However, if they are not applied
and adapted to real practical situations, nothing will be achieved at a high level. It takes more
than just knowing what to do – there is no substitute for practical experience. The best way
to improve competence is through real world practice. True experience, however, is gained
not simply by doing or repeating. It comes from conscious, reflected and deliberate practice.
Combining experience with activities, such as reflection, journal writing, professional meetings
and networking with colleagues, leads to expertise. This can also be learned.

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 Developing professionally
A typical learning pattern in any given area is composed of five phases. Visually it looks like
this:

Result
Capacity &
Competence

Start effectiveness
Unaware of Awereness Output
shortcomings Conscious of Consciously
need for competent
improvement

Training

Experience

Starting
When you start working as a TD, you are motivated, full of ideas and convinced you are
competent and prepared to be successful in your work. That is good! Be proud to have the
most fulfilling job in football. Start, but be aware that truly great leaders are open-minded and
self-critical. You are not yet conscious of the outcomes of your activity and projects. Use your
eyes and ears to feel your way into the new role.

Give yourself time to understand the MA’s culture and history and be prepared to be patient
and flexible in your approach.

Developing awareness
The process of self-learning and self-development starts with identifying the areas where you
need to progress. This awareness is achieved with humility and by analysing your professional
and personal patterns with a cool head.

The best way to have an overview of personal competence, training needs and to develop
awareness is a self-assessment. Self-reflection represents a turning point and produces the
motivation to improve. You can start by asking yourself some basic questions, such as:

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 • What is my understanding of coaching and teaching techniques?
• What is my knowledge of youth football and grassroots?
• Is my teaching efficient and effective?
• Is there anything about women’s football that I can learn?
• How am I as a manager and administrator?
• How do I communicate in public? How do I communicate with colleagues?
• How are my writing skills? Are my reports of good quality?
• What do I know about fitness, group psychology, motivational aspects?
• What about planning?
• How good is my English or any other relevant foreign language?
• What is my level of computer literacy? Is it important to be able to use computers or
certain software in modern football?

It is, of course, important to be objective in your answers and apply a high standard. By
sharing thoughts and thinking out loud, the awareness process loses part of its subjective
nature and becomes a useful tool for self-development. In order to identify all the relevant
fields of expertise for the TD position, the toolbox at the end of each chapter of this handbook
can provide useful guidance.

In some very developed MAs, concrete procedures for self-assessment and long-term
professional development are in place and organised with the direct supervisor or the head of
human resources, if this position exists.

The following example from The FA could be adapted for different circumstances and needs.

Training – my professional learning and development

Development Success measures Target date for Your evidence of Line manager's
need and solution completion completion, impact comments on
on performance and evidence of
sharing learning with completion, impact
the team on performance and
sharing learning with
the team

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Technical Leadership Growing Professionally Framework
The Growing Professionally Framework identifies skills gaps for the individual development
of technical leaders, identifying specific development needs to support their learning and
understanding in special technical leader projects within football.

This handbook provides a simple questionnaire as a tool to be used every time the TD has
to work on a specific (new) project. In some cases, discussing it with a peer (e.g. the GS, a
member of the technical department, the TD from a neighbouring country or FIFA’s regional
technical consultant) might be suggested.

GROWING PROFESSIONALLY
FRAMEWORK: PROJECTS/TASKS
Devote a good amount of time to reflecting on your professional career. Discuss your solutions
with your mentor.

What are or will be your main task in this regard in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What skills, knowledge and experience will help you to perform well
in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

Precise frameworks will:

• serve as a self-analysis tool;
• give individual support to technical leaders for special projects;
• ensure the quality of technical leaders within football;

150 TD Handbook
• enhance capacity-building programmes for technical leaders in football;
• be a support for MAs with the recruitment process; and
• support sustainable football development.

Below is an example of how the tool could be used in a specific task (see Chapter 3).

Recruit a head of coach education

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

• Drawing up the required profile (job description)

• Selection of best profiles
• Interviews with candidates
• Obtaining references
• Approval of best candidate
• Introduction and integration

What skills, knowledge and experience will help the TD to perform well in
this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)
• Communication skills (interviewing candidates’ former employers, leading
employment and career interviews)
• Knowledge of international coach education standards (coach conventions,
coaching pathways, adult learning and teaching)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

• HR of the MA’s main sponsoring partner -> discussion, workshop

• GS in his/her HR role at the MA -> discussion, recommended literature
• Literature -> reading, studying
• Experienced TD at another MA -> Skype call, documents, visit
• FIFA regional consultants -> documentation

Set deadlines:

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How to develop professional expertise
Once the areas requiring additional efforts have been identified, you can proceed with
pinpointing the best tools for closing the gap. A wide range of tools is available.

• Literature, publications
• Internet
• Courses, seminars, visits
• Reports and presentations

Knowledge Skills

Tasks
Performance

Deliberate
practice

Generally speaking, there are five means that can be used:

Self-Learnning Peer-to-peer

Mentoring Formal education

Leadership cells (Developed

Teaching others
through Mentoring)

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Self-learning

As the expression suggests, self-learning is a practice that enables the TD to evolve

autonomously in a given area. In order to do so, you need to know the basics of the subject
matter and gather additional elements from various sources. An example of self-learning and
self-assessment is this handbook that TDs can read alone, without other prerequisites. Other
sources for self-learning material include:

Publications by FIFA and confederations: as mentioned in Chapter 7, FIFA and the confederations
produce a significant number of technical manuals, covering virtually all technical aspects of
the game. They come with different supporting material that usually combines text and videos.
(FIFA has changed its policy regarding the production of teaching manuals and technical study
reports. All technical study reports are now on fifa.com, but not in a printed version). In some
cases, it is possible to organise internal training sessions with the relevant technical department
staff and external participants to analyse one specific aspect of technical development in
depth, by showing videos and organising a discussion.

Specialised literature: there is now a wealth of literature about football (both management
and technical aspects). Many big MAs publish several books and manuals about coaching and
other subjects each year. TDs from smaller MAs should benefit from this material and stay
informed about the available documents in a language they understand. Moreover, there are
hundreds of interesting studies published every year that are available on the market.

Internet: the amount of information and documents that can be found on the web is limitless.
You must, however, keep an eye on the quality and on the reliability of the source. Specialised
internet platforms, like the one FIFA is running, are helpful, especially for TDs in MAs.

FIFA Training Centre

Courses and seminars: FIFA and the confederations regularly organise courses and seminars
for TDs of MAs, usually on a regional basis. The new programme on FIFA’s technical capacity-
building is based on one important cornerstone: offering support in an efficient manner,
tailored to the needs of each MA.

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These are opportunities to share personal experiences, receive information on available
programmes and potential activities, as well as to have access to the latest news from FIFA
headquarters. Similar activities are organised by the confederations. Relevant material is
typically provided. Using this material on a daily basis is a means to refresh the notions that
were highlighted during seminars. The most tailored ones are FIFA courses for MA TDs with
the participation of general secretaries.

The titles of the three FIFA technical

director courses give an indication of a
TD’s responsibilities.

Reports and presentations: you can learn a lot by producing material for internal courses,
management boards or even committee meetings, such as PowerPoint presentations, reports
or didactic material. These activities also oblige the TD to further analyse and summarise the
findings.

Self-learning is probably the most common and popular form of professional growth, but
we have to be conscious of the limits of courses and seminars. The knowledge we can gain
during such events has to be applied. Courses and reading combined with reflective practice,
professional meetings and networking with colleagues is the route to excellence.

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Mentoring

Mentoring is a specialised form of peer-to-peer learning. The main objective is to further the
leaders’ individual development needs as TDs. The mentor is an expert in a particular field
and is educated in how to give advice, inspire and work in different ways with the mentee’s
potential and specific situation. Successful mentors need core skills like active listening, asking
questions and building relationships, and good mentoring will lead to a learning partnership,
which is fruitful for both parties.

The FIFA mentoring programme for TDs

Learning involved in everyday work is probably the most useful type of professional growth.
After two pilot mentoring projects in 2019, FIFA is offering an individual mentoring programme
for MA TDs. Based on individual analysis of the TD’s professional needs, a group of qualified
FIFA experts leads these learning partnership projects.

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 Leadership cells (developed through mentoring)

One single person will not have all of the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to support
the individual technical leader, but a group of people with different knowledge and experience
can fill the gap. These leadership cells often form an integral part of the mentoring process
and can consist of many different types of support mechanisms:

Example:
• Objective friend
• Skills mentor (soft skills)
• Personal coach
• Head of the technical department (for example, coach education)
• General secretary
• Specialised scientist

The leadership cell usually forms an integral part of the mentoring process.

Peer-to-peer

Another way to improve professionally is to get together with open-minded colleagues and
learn from each other. It needs to be clear that this is an “objective friend” relationship and
is a way to see decisions through a different lens. For it to be a successful relationship, each
party should feel comfortable giving and receiving constructive criticism and sharing ideas.
Game analysis, whether for local or international matches, is a typical domain where this kind
of feedback can be useful. It can take place in a formal setting (e.g. FIFA post-World Cup
conferences) or more informally at local level.

What is important is that the analysis is organised in a structured way and is conducted
by competent people. It is key to stress that game analysis is not just done for personal
pleasure, but serves the purpose of identifying technical, tactical, physical and
psychological aspects that play a role in team performance. The output of the game
analysis will eventually have an influence on the football philosophy that is applied to
the country’s football.

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Peer-to-peer learning can be done with colleagues in the technical department, with TDs of
neighbouring MAs or with colleagues from different sports.

Peer-to-peer within the technical department: one easy way to proceed is to ask a member of
the department with a specific skill set and experience (e.g. physical trainers or goalkeeping
coaches) to prepare a short lecture on a given topic, which is then analysed as a group. The
advantage of this activity is not only knowledge-sharing and deeper analysis, but also the
development of individual skills in terms of public presentations, communication, conciseness
and the use of electronic supports. In this way, each participant learns something, even the
person running the session. Special events like tournaments or important games are ideal
occasions to get together and learn from one another.

Peer-to-peer with other TDs: colleagues from other MAs are possibly the only people who really
know in full detail what it means to be a TD. They can provide advice based on experience and
share their specific knowledge. This type of peer-to-peer learning can be organised alongside
seminars and courses or conducted over the phone or by email. There is also the option of
organising contact groups and discussion forums using social networks (Facebook, Twitter,
Meetup, etc.).

Close contact with FIFA regional consultants: a productive and open communication line with
FIFA’s regional consultants is always a good way to receive guidance and advice, as well as to
be informed of the latest news on technical development. These contacts often remain at an
informal level, but can be enriched by sharing analytical documents or case studies from other
MAs.

Peer-to-peer with colleagues from other sports: in some countries, there might be sport
associations that are as organised as those in football, possibly more so (rugby, basketball,
cricket) or the National Olympic Committee. Getting in touch with the person in charge of
development and learning from other sports is a way to improve professionally. In addition,
some interesting synergies can develop, such as joining efforts to improve facilities or to
facilitate the joint use of technical centres.

If you have limited opportunities to learn from others, though, you can always learn something
about yourself: how do others perceive you, including your talents and performance?
Answering these questions will help you to identify gaps, as well as future learning areas.

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Formal education

Formal education is possibly the best option in domains where academic courses exist and if
the person has the time and resources to commit to it. Typically, a TD will want to possess the
highest coaching degree available at confederation level. In addition, there is a possibility to
attend specialised courses on coaching, mental training and/or fitness. The higher the level of
qualification, the better the TD will be positioned when working with the country's coaches.

Formal education can also focus on non-technical aspects, such as management and
communication. There are now a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses on
sports management, focusing on a variety of relevant domains. Before enrolling on a course,
you need to fully understand the curriculum and the expected output, and whether it is
relevant for your everyday work as a TD. Some academic courses are conceived in order to
enable people who already have a job to attend and actively participate (lessons after working
hours or during the weekend, languages, e-learning, or a combination thereof).

Teaching others

One of the quickest ways to learn something new and practise it, is to teach others how to do
it. Share what you have learnt with your mentor or in your FIFA courses with your team, GS,
managers or co-workers. You can do it by forcing yourself to put a “teaching“ date in your
calendar or agreeing to lead a formal training session. With those objectives, your learning will
be more focused, you will create a learning culture within your team and inspire your MA to
become a learning organisation.

As a TD and leader, you are responsible for making sure that everyone in your team sees
learning as part of their job. In the changing world in which we live, it is more crucial than ever
that people continually create, acquire and transfer knowledge, helping your team and MA
to adapt to the unpredictable. Here are some ways of creating on how to create a learning
culture in your team.

• Be a role model: you should come back from every workshop or training with a story
about what you learned. Rather than the typical “it was interesting“, be specific. Think
about what skills you are most excited about developing? What areas do you need to
grow in? Then share your answers with the rest of your team.
• Celebrate growth and learn from failure.
• Foster new experiences: give special assignments, allow your team to witness the impact
of their decisions.

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 CHAPTER 9
TOOLBOX

• Raising awareness about the need for training and learning

• Finding quality time to devote to self-learning and self-
improvement
• Finding the most appropriate routes in further education
Most frequent
• Explaining the importance of self-development to colleagues
challenges
and superiors, and getting their support
• Maintaining the knowledge gained and staying up to date on
the latest developments
• Finding the funds to pay for (formal) education

• Perseverance and motivation

• Capacity to concentrate on different tasks during the same day/
week
Necessary skills
• Good long-term planning
and experience
• Humility and eagerness to learn
• Networking with other TDs from the region or worldwide, and
alumni in order to practise transfer of knowledge

• FIFA regional consultants

• FIFA courses and seminars
FIFA support • FIFA manual for MA TDs
• Technical study analysis from FIFA competitions (see fifa.com)
• FIFA mentoring programme for TDs

• Confederation TD
Confederation support
• Regional office

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 GROWING PROFESSIONALLY FRAMEWORK:
FOSTERING SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Devote a good amount time to reflecting on your professional career. Discuss your solutions
with your mentor.

What are or will be your main task in this regard in the coming months?

(What are the tasks/challenges?)

What skills, knowledge and experience will help you to perform well
in this area?

(Think about where you are now and where you want to/should be)

Who can support you (GS/mentor/leadership cell/additional network)?

(Who/how/which solutions?)

Set deadlines:

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The Handbook for Technical Directors was developed by
the FIFA Technical Development Department and with
the invaluable contribution of the following individuals:
Hansruedi Hasler, Gareth Jennings, Juerg Nepfer, Philip
Carpinteiro Zimmermann, Jenny Ninck, Lenny Lake, Jamie
Houchen, Kim Poulsen, Kelly Cross and Karl Lines

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166 | 2019 - 2022 Wave 4
167 | 2019 - 2022 Wave 4
Fédération Internationale de
Football Association

President: Gianni Infantino

Secretary General: Fatma Samoura
Address: FIFA
FIFA-Strasse 20
P.O. Box 8044 Zurich
Switzerland
Telephone: +41 (0)43 222 7777
Internet: www.FIFA.com

168 | 2019 - 2022 Wave 4