Mgr. Michal Horný, PhD. posted an update
How We Revolutionized Football Coaching Education (Not Only) in Slovakia (Part 1)
Having successfully established ourselves in the world of football education, I’d like to take the next few posts to share our journey—how we transformed the way football coaches (not only in Slovakia) learn and develop. This isn’t just a single story; it’s a series of insights into how we built something that changed the game.
Just before COVID-19, we launched our platform with the ambition to reshape football coaching education. When I first introduced my idea (which I’ll share in the following posts) to the Slovak Football Association, they struggled to see how our project could fit into their existing system of coaching education and continuous development. There were concerns about whether coaches would be comfortable using modern technology, how content would be created and shared, and even who should be responsible for producing it.
But I had a clear vision. I believed that this project could not only help the association improve the quality and efficiency of coaching education but also make football knowledge more accessible to coaches in a much simpler way—without the need for costly travel, overnight stays, or missing training sessions.
Then COVID-19 changed everything. But even in the first weeks and months of the pandemic, the association remained cautious, hoping things would soon return to normal. As time went on, it became clear that wasn’t going to happen. After further discussions, we agreed to move forward together. The association needed to provide coaches with continuous education, as required by UEFA regulations, and I knew exactly how we could make it happen.
Since it was impossible for the Slovak FA to hold their annual Coaching Conference in person, we (with Slovak FA) decided to take an unconventional approach—hosting it on our platform. It took months of preparation: we handled the technical side, while the association provided content through its instructors, national team coaches, and academy coaches. We coordinated the entire process, from recording lectures to providing ongoing technical support.
In December 2020, we launched the first-ever Slovak FA Online Coaching Conference—a collection of pre-recorded lectures that coaches could purchase for a symbolic fee. That’s when we sparked a small but significant revolution in football coaching education in Slovakia.
The conference featured dozens of lectures and courses, structured by coaching license levels, allowing coaches to earn credits toward their license renewals. And while there was some initial hesitation, it didn’t take long for coaches to embrace this new way of learning.
But we didn’t stop there. Together with the Slovak FA, we took things even further.
(…to be continued in Part 2)
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