Coaching insights from the 2026 club competition finals

The UEFA club competition finals underlined how challenging, if rewarding, it is to keep up with the curve in elite football – and, for the very best practitioners, to get ahead of it.

In coach education terms, it is the purpose of the UEFA Coaching Convention to make sure UEFA and European football will be always front and centre when it comes to achieving excellence in player development. That means ensuring well-educated and competent coaches at all levels while continually updating coach education systems and coaching standards.

One part of this commitment is to promote reality-based learning, which entails a day-to-day accretion of lived experiences, knowledge, understanding and capabilities that complements more formal learning methods and continuing professional development (CPD).

According to UEFA's Head of Coach Development Kris Van Der Haegen, the aim of reality-based learning is to "ensure the coach is the best teacher of himself". He said: "One way is to watch matches focusing on the demands of the game today. When the coach takes ownership of how they are learning, their teaching and their coaching become more effective."

UEFA provides informal learning opportunities through analysis on this website. Many coaches will also have gleaned insights from watching the major club finals, where a common theme was finding solutions in tight spaces. Van Der Haegen observed: "When teams are closing down spaces, it is crucial to find solutions and to proceed from small spaces to big spaces."

The term 'verticality' defines one way of beating the technical block, and the first clip in the video shows Paris Saint-Germain going 'vertical' in the UEFA Champions League final. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia latches on to a pass and races from halfway, into a 3v3 scenario spanning half the pitch. Similarly, Aston Villa play out of small spaces to attack the spaces in behind in their UEFA Europa League decider. After winning the ball, it takes one Villa pass out of the pressure to release willing runner Ollie Watkins into half a pitch.

Crystal Palace's goal in the UEFA Conference League final begins with a right-to-left switch, with the 'diagonal' route out of the pressure coming from Daichi Kamada's pass, enabling Adam Wharton to drive forward. Most daringly, Barcelona drive out of the pressure in the UEFA Women's Champions League final. Following an interception it becomes a small game – 3v2 or 2v2 – and in Patri Guijarro, Barcelona have the quality to emerge and explore the bigger spaces.

Van Der Haegan articulated the detailed coaching involved in Patri's assist for Ewa Pajor: "You see the perfect timing, the perfect quality of the pass, then the first touch, the acceleration and the finishing. These details make the difference."

The focus for Jozef Záhorský, UEFA's Senior Coach Development Manager, is to help coaches unpick, recognise, then implement these extra layers in their practice. He said: "The game is the best teacher for coaches, and it is UEFA's responsibility to give and develop competence in coaching courses, CPD as well as informal learning."

Coaches will apply their reality-based learning as they transfer knowledge to players using reality-based teaching. "In terms of developing understanding of the game, the game is the best teacher," confirmed Záhorský.

When it comes to designing sessions such as the drills here, the requirements of the game should take precedence. Phil Church, Senior Professional Game Coach Development Lead at the English FA, cited "realism, relevance, repetition, plus end product" as the criteria, explaining: "It is important to keep it 'real', recreating moments from matches and trying to see from the player's perspective what's required."

The player experience is vital: the convention prioritises the well-being and holistic development of players, and forms coaches accordingly. Elite Youth A diploma holders are tasked with carefully overseeing the transition from elite youth to professional football.

This is especially relevant in view of the young players operating in central midfield in the club finals: Johan Manzambi (age 20, Freiburg), Lily Yohannes (18, OL Lyonnes), Adam Wharton (22, Crystal Palace) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (19, Arsenal), and the heightened demands placed on them – which they impressively met. As a case in point, Lewis-Skelly displayed tremendous adaptability in only his second Champions League outing in central midfield.

Nora Häuptle, UEFA's Women's Player Development Expert, highlighted the "physical aspects, technical quality, box-to-box ability, explosiveness, cognition and decision-making" of this quartet, who are featured in the next video, noting: "We are seeing very young players breaking through in central midfield. For coaches, it is important to know you need to coach an 18-year-old differently from a 30-year-old."

On a practical level, the Elite Youth A course proposes game-oriented training sessions that anticipate future opponents, pressure and intensity, as well as linking training and matches through reality-based learning.

However, the successful nurturing of young players calls for something broader and more strategic: just as the aspiring midfielder will need 360° vision in the heat of the action, so will a coach require an overarching approach and appropriately structured staff.

"There should be an expert for individual player development – a 'transition coach' – somebody taking care of these young players and responsible for getting the players ready for more playing minutes," advised Van Der Haegen.

The route to senior football is littered with potential hazards. The physical demands of first-team football exceed those of youth-team football, with the ability to compete in pace, power and 1v1 duels paramount. Match overload is an obvious risk because young players are not fully matured physically. "How much time in the first-team environment do they effectively have to train to become a better player and to be ready for first-team football?" posited Van Der Haegen.

The idea of a transition coach monitoring load management is consistent with a situation where individual training coaches – and individual development plans (IDPs) – become prevalent. "While the head coach is trying to win games, I think clubs will start putting responsibility on somebody to work with all the players on IDPs, because then you grow the asset value of the squad," said Church.

Arguably the biggest thing that develops a playing asset is game time at the highest level. The prevailing landscape where teams play every three to four days increases the importance of carefully designed player development plans and pathways that cater for different scenarios, whether that's early transition into the senior side, still within the club, or through the loan system.

Players have to know the standards and culture they are moving into, including acceptable behaviours, work-rate and focus. For a coach, it is essential to build relationships with players to learn if they have the necessary belief as well as the humility to flourish in the environment.

Freiburg's Manzambi is an example of a player thriving in a specific club culture. "If you are Manzambi breaking through at Freiburg, you get a lot of responsibility," said Van Der Haegan. "Does the profile of the player fit the culture?" It is easier for a young player surrounded by star players to "have the role of a youngster", added Van Der Haegen. "At other clubs it may be easier to become a leader already."