UEFA mourns passing of Charles Hughes

Over more than three decades working in football Charles Hughes, who has died aged 91, had a significant impact on the game in England and Europe.

After a limited career as a player, Hughes first joined the English Football Association (The FA) in 1964 as assistant director of coaching and team manager of the England amateur international and Great Britain Olympic teams – a role he fulfilled for ten years, winning 48 and drawing 17 of his 77 matches in charge. He went on to work with multiple England managers, including as assistant coach to Bobby Robson in 1982.

Away from the pitch, Hughes led the research and writing of the FA's Blueprint for the Future of Football report published in 1991, which provided recommendations that laid the groundwork for what would become the English Premier League. Throughout his career he was a strong advocate of youth development and women's football.

In 1990 he took on the role of director of coaching at the FA, which he held until his retirement in 1997. Between 1995 and 1998 he was a member of UEFA's Jira Panel – a group of respected European football technicians that advised UEFA on football coach education and development.

A pioneer of match analysis and coach education

Hughes is recognised as one of the first coaches in Europe to embrace the idea of match analysis and was an early contributor to UEFA's match analysis set-up, now a fundamental part of how UEFA runs competitions. He also contributed significantly in the early stages of the development of Coaching Convention.

Hughes' passion for analysis led to his belief in the effectiveness of direct football, advocating accurate long passes and quick, direct play. Assessing games at all levels, he concluded that the majority of goals were scored from moves involving five passes or fewer, leading him to promote moving the ball forward as quickly as possible and to stress the importance of accurate long balls, set plays and crosses into the box.

His preference for some saw as a reductive approach to football proved controversial, but his lengthy and fruitful career is testament to the success of his ideas and his impact on the game.

Charles Hughes with England manager Bobby Robson (centre) and fellow assistant FA director of coaching Harry Haslam (right) Bob Thomas Sports Photography

Legacy of development

Alongside his influence on coaching and tactics, Hughes will be remembered for his involvement in a number of player development projects in both grassroots and elite football.

Notably, Hughes played a role in launching the FA's centres of excellence in 1983, which permitted professional clubs to train players under 14 years of age for the first time, as well as the FA National School in 1984, which provided a template for the development of academies.

Hughes helped launch more than 100 football in the community programmes across clubs and local authorities, while he also secured the funding for three full-time female development officers at the FA and the appointment of the FA's first women's football coordinator.