Ireland sign up to coaching convention

The Republic of Ireland has become the latest UEFA member association to sign the UEFA Convention on the Mutual Recognition of Coaching Qualifications.

Tremendous step
The chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), John Delaney, signed the convention at Pro level in a ceremony at UEFA's headquarters, together with UEFA President Michel Platini and General Secretary David Taylor. "This is a tremendous step for us," said Delaney. "Our special thanks go to Packie Bonner, the FAI technical director, who has done and accomplished a great deal of work in the field of coach education in our country."

Raising standards
UEFA's convention reflects the desire to have compulsory coaching licences in all member associations and to continuously raise the coaching standards in Europe. The goal is that all teams – and professional clubs in particular – should employ only coaches who have undergone coach education and hold an appropriate licence. This is very much in the spirit of the UEFA club licensing system and has been incorporated as an integral part of the system.

Protect the profession
The convention's objective is to protect the coaching profession and smooth the way for the free movement of qualified coaches within Europe – in accordance with European law. UEFA also promotes the exchange of coach education and encourages its 53 member associations to share technical knowledge with the overall benefit of European football in mind.

Three levels
Minimum criteria have been laid down in the convention for three training levels (B, A and Pro). If any UEFA member association meets these criteria, it can accede to the convention. Currently, 52 of the 53 associations are members of the convention (38 at all three levels, eleven at A and B levels, and two at B level) – while UEFA's newest association, Montenegro, is also a candidate for accession. Almost 159,000 coaches across the continent have UEFA-endorsed licences.

Convention expands
The convention came into being in 1997 and targets the upgrading of coach education within the European national associations. Over the last decade, the convention has continued to expand throughout the continent. "To produce outstanding players and enable them to deploy their talents to the full in a team context, also takes outstanding coaches," says UEFA. "Such coaches do not arise out of nowhere – they are first and foremost the product of a high-quality coach education system.

Core element
"It is on precisely this point that UEFA focuses its efforts in the area of coach education, in order to safeguard and further improve the quality of European football. And one of the core elements of these efforts is the UEFA Convention on the Mutual Recognition of Coaching Qualifications."