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When in at least one of Europe's major leagues the majority of players on any given matchday often come from outside that country, it is hardly surprising that the issue of developing homegrown talent is a live issue. And it is something UEFA are addressing at a European level by introducing its first diploma specifically for youth coaching.

Specialism
The three UEFA licences for coaches - Pro, A and B - have been in existence for a decade, and the vast majority of member associations are accredited to issue them all through their own courses.

Those qualifications will soon be joined by a recommendation for a specialist youth licence at A level, designed to train coaches for the specific challenge of working with elite youth players. UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh is an advocate of the increasing professionalisation of coaching, and says the move to develop a specialist youth coach qualification is following up on the good work already done throughout Europe by individual associations. "Most federations need to develop their own players and many of them are doing that through academy systems or centres of excellence," Roxburgh told uefa.com. "The idea is to give additional specialised training to those that work with talented young players."

Advantages
The UEFA technical director, who spoke about the proposed licence for youth football at the recent UEFA Symposium for Coach Education Directors in London, elaborated: "That area is becoming vitally important, as everyone says: 'We are not producing enough home-grown players, we're not developing our own.' And because of globalisation, the top clubs are simply buying players from all over the planet. Youth coaching is advantageous for clubs in the long term - it saves an enormous amount of money, keeps the local identity if they can get at least a few players through their own academy system. That means those academy coaches are going to have to produce results. The environment has changed. Even in the opening day of the season in the Premiership there were only ten players who were Under-21 and eligible for England. That's incredible. It underlines that if the local youth talents are going to get into the top teams now they are going to have to be very, very good, a match for those that can be bought from abroad."

Guidelines
As with the existing licences, UEFA will not dictate the exact content of the courses that each federation introduces, to allow them to tailor their content to their national needs. "The guidelines are already drawn up, we've already spoken to our technical directors and coach educators about that," Roxburgh explained. "It is such an important area for the future of football. We feel that it's not enough to develop basic coaches; what we need are people with the specialised knowledge. The content will include things like understanding the different stages of development and the specific methods for a ten-year-old, or a 12-year-old or a 14-year-old."

Creative teaching
Creative teaching methods are also encouraged by Roxburgh. "Drilling is useful in some contexts like organising a backline, but the main thing is to teach youth coaches how to coach creatively, to bring out of the young players the qualities that they have in them," the former Scotland manager said. "Keep challenging them to think; as at the top level you need players with great technique who are physically capable of coping with the speed and intensity of the top level, but also players that can think on the pitch. Right from ten years old upwards you need to be developing that. You need to understand the young players, their mentality, the phases that they will go through. That's the kind of thing that needs to be put into the specialised programme."

Professionalism
As the UEFA licence system moves into its second decade, Roxburgh aims to continue to push coaching's status as a profession. "Once young coaches have studied the business, had an apprenticeship, have the approval of their own federation and UEFA, then they must be supported by a licensing system that protects them, the profession and the game. Because you have an education as a coach, it won't guarantee you'll be a top-class winner, there are many other elements - personality, players, etc. But what it does guarantee is that you at least know the basics. And for the protection of players, youth players or star players, it is important that they know that the people that are taking care of them have a basic understanding of what they are doing."

Source: Uefa.com