Here's an interesting (and perhaps useless) factoid of the day. Don't know how and why I missed this last summer, but I was astonished to read just today about the huge discrepancy in the numbers of highly qualified coaches across European soccer nations, and in particular England's relative and absolute backwardness.
According to a story from the Guardian newspaper published right before the World Cup, "UEFA data shows that there are only 2,769 English coaches holding Uefa's B, A and Pro badges, its top qualifications. Spain has produced 23,995, Italy 29,420, Germany 34,970 and France 17,588." I don't know about you, but I find these numbers astonishing. Not only do Germany and Italy have more than ten times as many of these coaches as England, the ratios of coaches to players is just as bad or even worse. Consider these ratios of UEFA-qualified coaches to active players:
Spain 1:17
Italy 1:48
France 1:96
Germany 1:150
Greece 1:135
England 1:812
No, that's not a typo: Spain's ratio is 1 coach to 17 players; England's is an incredible 1 to 812. The Spaniards may be overdoing it (but maybe not, since they're World Champs), but even the Germans have a 1 to 150 ratio.
Or consider this: In 2009, 115 English coaches had UEFA's pro license; in Spain there were 2,140. This translates to ratios of available Pro-licensed coaches to players of 1:190 in Spain, 1:19,565 in England.
Capello, Mourinho, Martinez, Benitez, Mancini, (Di Matteo - until last week), Ancelotti, Houllier, Grant? Certainly England is an attractive place to coach, but perhaps there is a supply issue with English managers. And come to think of it, before Steve McLaren's recent stint at Wolfsburg, an English coach never worked in the German Bundesliga.
There may be reasons why English coaches do not seek UEFA badges that I am unaware of - please enlighten me if you know - or perhaps we are systematically over- or under-counting active players in some of the countries. But assuming they're not far from the truth, these numbers have to matter, and matter at all levels, from youth player development to the professional leagues.
I'm sure folks in the League Managers Association and elsewhere are deeply worried about this. After all, England used to export coaches to far flung corners of the world and helped found and nurture clubs in places as different as Argentina and Austria. Without them, the game wouldn't have spread around the world in the way that it did. So what happened? I'm not sure, but it seems high time to do something about it.
According to a story from the Guardian newspaper published right before the World Cup, "UEFA data shows that there are only 2,769 English coaches holding Uefa's B, A and Pro badges, its top qualifications. Spain has produced 23,995, Italy 29,420, Germany 34,970 and France 17,588." I don't know about you, but I find these numbers astonishing. Not only do Germany and Italy have more than ten times as many of these coaches as England, the ratios of coaches to players is just as bad or even worse. Consider these ratios of UEFA-qualified coaches to active players:
Spain 1:17
Italy 1:48
France 1:96
Germany 1:150
Greece 1:135
England 1:812
No, that's not a typo: Spain's ratio is 1 coach to 17 players; England's is an incredible 1 to 812. The Spaniards may be overdoing it (but maybe not, since they're World Champs), but even the Germans have a 1 to 150 ratio.
Or consider this: In 2009, 115 English coaches had UEFA's pro license; in Spain there were 2,140. This translates to ratios of available Pro-licensed coaches to players of 1:190 in Spain, 1:19,565 in England.
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| The Telegraph, Source: PA |
There may be reasons why English coaches do not seek UEFA badges that I am unaware of - please enlighten me if you know - or perhaps we are systematically over- or under-counting active players in some of the countries. But assuming they're not far from the truth, these numbers have to matter, and matter at all levels, from youth player development to the professional leagues.
I'm sure folks in the League Managers Association and elsewhere are deeply worried about this. After all, England used to export coaches to far flung corners of the world and helped found and nurture clubs in places as different as Argentina and Austria. Without them, the game wouldn't have spread around the world in the way that it did. So what happened? I'm not sure, but it seems high time to do something about it.
