- contact@uefacoachingacademy.com
The UEFA A is where coaching stops being a qualification you buy and becomes a place you have to win.
At C and B level, meeting the entry criteria generally gets you onto a course. At A level it does not. Associations run limited cohorts, and they choose between eligible applicants based on what you are currently doing in the game — not simply what you already hold.
That distinction is the most important thing on this page, and it is the reason capable coaches with the right licence and the right experience still get turned down.
The UEFA A Diploma is the third of the four core qualifications. Complete it and you hold a UEFA A license, valid for three years before renewal.
UEFA sets a minimum of 180 hours. The content moves decisively toward the professional game: strategies and tactics, systems of play, in-possession and out-of-possession principles, performance trends, and accountability to a club rather than to a team.
Assessment at this level is built around the 11-a-side game. Scotland states plainly that A Licence coaching practice, assignments and assessments are all based on 11v11 — youth-format coaching, however good, will not evidence what the course asks you to evidence.
Coaches already working at or near the top of the game they are in. England describes the course as being for coaches working within, or aspiring to work within, the professional game in senior 21-plus or youth development environments.
Scotland is blunter: all applicants must be working at the highest level of the game available to them, with elite youth or top amateur as an absolute minimum, and coaching elite youth players at under-16 or above recommended in order to apply the course content properly.
Read those two together and the picture is clear. The A is not a qualification you take in order to get a better job. It is a qualification you take because the job you already have demands it.
Associations increasingly run dedicated strands for the women’s game, including at A level, so the pathway is not limited to the men’s professional environment – but the principle of needing a suitable current role applies either way.
UEFA’s minimum requirements
| Association | Experience required | Additional conditions |
|---|---|---|
| UEFA minimum | 1 year post-B, in 11-a-side | — |
| England (The FA) | 1 year post-B as head or assistant coach in 11-a-side; B held at least a year before the course starts | Cannot be enrolled on another FA Level 4 qualification, including in its assessment phase. Priority given to coaches living and working in England, and to those in the Premier League or EFL |
| Scotland (Scottish FA) | 1 year post-B in 11-a-side | Mandatory Scottish FA e-learning including Children's Wellbeing in Scottish Football. No alternative qualifications accepted. Must be working at elite youth or top amateur level minimum |
England’s structure is a good illustration of how demanding the A has become logistically: 12 days spread across a one-year period, delivered as six residential modules at St George’s Park, with a mandatory online programme in the lead-up to each module and a coach developer supporting you in your own environment between blocks.
Attendance rules are strict. Full attendance at every in-person and online component is mandatory, and any missed block must be made up on a different course before the award can be completed — with any accommodation needed for catching up paid for by the learner.
If you are managing a season alongside the course, those dates are not negotiable and they are worth mapping against your fixture list before you apply.
Roughly a year of course delivery in most associations, on top of the year of post-B experience required before you can start.
Realistically, a coach moving from B to A is looking at two years minimum from graduating with the B to holding the A — longer if the first application is unsuccessful, which is common.
Substantially more than the B, and less transparently published.
The FA does not display the UEFA A Diploma fee on its public course page, listing only what the fee includes. Figures circulating online put it in the region of £4,000, but we have not been able to verify that against an official source and are not going to present an unverified number as fact. Contact the association directly for the current fee.
What we can say with confidence:
We publish verified association fees as we confirm them rather than quoting averages.
A valid UEFA B license and at least one year coaching 11-a-side football after graduating with it. Associations add their own conditions — England requires the B to have been held a year before the course starts and gives priority to coaches in the professional game; Scotland requires mandatory e-learning and a role at elite youth or top amateur level minimum.
Yes, and it is common. Cohorts are limited and associations prioritise between eligible applicants. England openly states that priority goes to coaches living and working in England and to those in the Premier League or EFL.
Associations set their own fees and the FA does not publish its UEFA A figure publicly. Expect a substantial increase on the B, which is £1,250 in England, and expect less funding support than at lower levels. Contact the association directly for a current figure.
Yes. UEFA B licenses are recognized across member associations. You will need to supply cross-border documentation and evidence of your licence and experience, and you must still meet the receiving association’s own criteria — including any requirement to be working locally.
Around a year of course delivery in most associations, on top of the year of post-B experience required to apply. England delivers 12 days across six residential modules within a one-year period, with mandatory online sessions in between.
In practice, yes. Assessment, coaching practice and assignments are based on the 11v11 game, so a role in small-sided or youth-format football will not generate the evidence the course requires.