- contact@uefacoachingacademy.com
The UEFA Pro is the top of the pathway, and it functions differently from everything below it. The C, B and A are qualifications you earn to become a better coach. The Pro is a licence you need in order to hold specific jobs.
In England it is mandatory for any first team manager working in the Premier League. In Germany it is required for an official appointment as head coach in the top three divisions. That is the honest framing: the Pro is professional licensing, and associations treat it accordingly.
Places are correspondingly scarce. Germany runs cohorts of roughly 25 coaches for an entire country.
The UEFA Pro Diploma is the highest of the four core coaching qualifications. UEFA sets a minimum of 360 hours — twice the A, six times the C — and the licence, once held, is valid for three years before renewal like every other level.
Content moves well beyond coaching. Alongside tactical and technical work, associations build the Pro around leadership, long-term player development, succession planning, and the management of staff and stakeholders. England’s programme places candidates in front of experts from business as well as football, which tells you what the qualification is really preparing people for.
A note on German naming. Germany renamed the Fußball-Lehrer licence to the Pro Lizenz in 2022, and moved delivery from the Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie in Hennef to the DFB-Akademie in Frankfurt. Existing Fußball-Lehrer licences are treated as equivalent to the Pro Lizenz, with the card reissued under the new name at next renewal. If you hold the old qualification, you have not been downgraded.
People already working in professional football, or with a professional playing career behind them.
England’s entry criteria require experience in a full-time position in the professional game as a manager, head coach, assistant manager, first team coach, or in the professional development phase — or as a player with a minimum of five years’ professional playing experience.
That last clause matters and it is rarely explained properly. A professional playing career is recognized as qualifying experience in its own right at this level. It does not exempt you from holding a valid UEFA A first, and it does not guarantee a place, but it does mean the door is genuinely open to former players who came late to coaching.
UEFA’s minimum requirements
| Association | Core requirement | How places are decided |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA minimum | Valid A, plus 1 year post-A experience | — |
| England (The FA) | UEFA A held 12 months minimum; full-time role in the professional game, or 5 years' professional playing experience. Priority to holders of the English FA Award | Only applicants meeting every prerequisite are considered, and meeting them does not guarantee a place |
| Germany (DFB) | Points threshold plus admission conditions including a criminal record certificate | Points-based admission assessment, which replaced first-come-first-served. Certain academic and vocational qualifications earn points under "relevant education" |
| Scotland (Scottish FA) | 1 year post-A in 11-a-side; mandatory Scottish FA e-learning, no substitutes accepted | Applicants must be working at the highest level of the game available to them |
A valid UEFA A license plus at least one year’s experience after graduating with it. Associations add substantially — England requires the A held for 12 months and a full-time role in the professional game, or five years as a professional player. Germany scores applicants on a points system.
Yes. England lists a minimum of five years’ professional playing experience as qualifying experience in its own right. You still need a valid UEFA A first, and a place is not guaranteed, but a playing career counts.
Neither The FA nor the DFB publishes the figure openly. Expect a four-figure sum at minimum, with accommodation and catering often compulsory and included. Funding support is limited at this level. Contact the association directly.
Very few. German cohorts have historically run at around 25 for the entire country, and England confirms that interest exceeds capacity every season. Meeting the criteria does not guarantee a place.
For the highest levels, yes. It is mandatory for Premier League first team managers and for official head coach appointments in Germany’s top three divisions. Requirements at other levels and in other countries vary by competition rules.
Yes. Germany renamed it the Pro Lizenz in 2022 and existing Fußball-Lehrer licences are treated as equivalent, with the licence card reissued under the new name at renewal.