Studying our Football Coaching BA (Hons) course will equip you with the knowledge and skills around the sports industry, football ,coaching, business and management. You will gain a broad understanding of the football industry as well as its impact on contemporary society in our units in an Introduction to Football Studies, The Football Industry and Contemporary Issues in Football. Here, you will look closely at the causes of fandom and question what makes people support a particular team – successful or unsuccessful – while also examining how economic factors have shaped football into a global cultural phenomenon. The course also offers a range of optional units such as Sport Marketing, where you will examine how owners maximise revenue potential, or Football Finance, that outlines the financial and economic aspects of the football industry. In areas of business, you will explore the recent changes within the football industry such as stadium reconstruction and development, the relationship between clubs and fans, and the relationship between football and the media in The Business of Football unit. With this approach, you will also look at research into Football Governance to understand how football organisations operate at all levels. In areas of sport management, our unit in Sport and Physical Activity Management will allow you to consider the management and provision issues that arise from constraints and pressures of the commercial sector.

You will then learn to apply this knowledge within sport organisations in our Sport in Action: Management unit while examining the role of the state, non-profit and professional sectors in sport. Similarly, our Strategic Sport Management unit will expose you firsthand to the strategic management processes behind the development of sport and physical activity. In addition, you will also learn the discipline of Managing Elite Sport and the role of high-performance directors in athlete success as a developing area of study. In areas of the mind, you will look at the Social Psychology of Sport by analysing theories, principles and concepts to understand behaviour and its effects on performance and participation in sport and physical activity. You will also be exposed to units focused on individual performance and career, such as by developing practical coaching skills to provide positive learning environments for performers in our Foundations for Football Coaching unit. This closely links to our Football Development unit where you can assess youth development programmes in football from around the world to highlight best practice used to identify and support talented young players. You will then examine what Player Potential and Development looks like at various ages, how to identify this and the best ways to develop this potential.

In results-focused units, you will learn the fundamentals of Performance Analysis (Player and Match) and Performance Analysis for Football to equip you with the knowledge of a range of analysis techniques and the ability to provide feedback from your findings. You will also be exposed to units focused on individual performance and career, such as by developing practical coaching skills to provide positive learning environments for performers in our Foundations for Football Coaching unit. This closely links to our Applied Football Coaching unit where you will explore the relationship between understanding your role as a coach and understanding the player to apply your practical coaching knowledge. Building on this, you will also learn to understand the game and how to support individuals in a practical coaching setting in our Advanced Coaching for Football unit. To diversify your approach, our unit in Coaching Alternative Populations will provide you with the skills and knowledge to support the inclusion of disabled, hearing impaired or visually impaired players in football. You will also explore current biographies of famous sports figures and other research in sports sociology in our Sport, Physical Activity and Life Story unit.

Finally, you will have the opportunity to complete a Dissertation for Sport Science and Physical Activity where you will identify a key issue relevant to your study and examine it using the skills and knowledge gained from your academic study. To help you with this, our units in Dissertation Preparation, Research Methods for Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity, and an Introduction to Research Methods will support you in reading and understanding research, and to complete a proposal with ethical documentation. Alternatively, you may complete a Work Placement Project that will allow you to undertake work experience in the field that can be used to develop reflective practice, critical evaluation and work-based skills. To prepare you for your career, our Working in Sport and Physical Education unit will introduce you to multiple career pathways available within the sport & physical activity industry. To add to this, you can also undertake a Professional Practice Year (Sport Science and Physical Activity) that will allow you to gain work experience while developing your professional skills.