Football Coaching & Performance - BSc (Hons) Degree

This degree can be studied as a three-year full-time degree or a four-year full-time degree that includes a year of foundational study.

We offer two foundation year routes for our undergraduate sport degrees; each delivered at a different campus.

You can choose to study the Sport Foundation Year at our Cyncoed Campus, or the Management Foundation Year at our Llandaff Campus, depending on your interests and preferred location.

Whichever route you choose, successful completion will allow you to progress onto one of our undergraduate sport degrees.

Find out more about the foundation years and fees:

• Foundation Leading to Sport
• Foundation Leading to Management (Sport)

The foundation year is intended to prepare you for your subsequent years of studying, offering you the chance to strengthen your skills, knowledge and confidence. The foundation year will be relevant to:

1. Students who aspire to enrol onto the first year of a science-based honours degree programme within the Cardiff School of Health Sciences, who have not achieved the standard entry requirements to enter at year one of the chosen degree.
2. Students who have not studied subjects that provide the necessary background within the scientific disciplines required to enter at year one of the chosen degree.
3. Mature students who have been out of the formal education system for some time.

Please note: You will need to apply using a specific UCAS code if you wish to undertake the 4 years including foundation.

Year One (Level 4)

In Year One, you will build the foundations needed to become an effective football coach and performance practitioner. You will learn how to plan, deliver and reflect on football coaching sessions, while exploring the relationships, behaviours and responsibilities that shape positive coaching environments. You will also be introduced to football performance, helping you understand the demands of the game and how coaches support player and team development. Alongside this, you will develop the academic and professional skills needed to succeed at university and begin shaping your identity as an emerging football practitioner.

Modules (All Core)

• Professional and Academic Development (40 credits)*
• Football Coaching Practice: Design and Delivery (40 credits)
• Football Coaching Relationships and Identity (20 credits)
• Introduction to Football Performance (20 credits)

Year Two (Level 5)

In Year Two, you will apply your coaching knowledge in more authentic and challenging football contexts. You will explore technical and tactical development, develop your understanding of football coaching pedagogy, and learn how performance data can support coaching decisions. Placement and project-based learning will help you connect theory with practice, giving you opportunities to develop your confidence, professional skills and understanding of football-related environments.

Modules (All Core)

• Project-Based Learning (40 credits)*
• Placement: Technical and Tactical Development (40 credits)
• Football Coaching Pedagogy: Context and Application (20 credits)
• Coaching with Performance Data (20 credits)

Year Three (Level 6)

In Year Three, you will bring together your learning from across the degree and apply it to more complex football coaching and performance environments. You will explore leadership, culture and change, examine how coaches respond to critical incidents, and consider how interdisciplinary practice supports player and team development. You will also complete a final project, allowing you to investigate an area linked to your interests, professional development or future career in football and sport.

Modules (All Core)

• Final Project (40 credits)*
• Placement: Leadership, Culture and Change in Football (40 credits)
• High Performance Football: Managing Critical Incidents (20 credits)
• Applied Interdisciplinary Practice (20 credits)

*Available through the medium of Welsh.

Effective learning, teaching and assessment methods underpin the educational aims and the learning outcomes of all our programmes and modules. Throughout our undergraduate degrees we focus on providing the authentic learning experiences to both challenge and develop all our students. Authentic learning is a learner-centred approach in which you’ll develop your knowledge and skills by engaging in, and addressing, real life problems that demand the use of higher order thinking skills, real world resources and tools while thinking and acting like an expert within the context of your degree. Across the range of undergraduate sport degrees, you’ll experience “project and practice ways of working”, where you’ll experience working on real challenges, projects or problems set by people and communities that value to support and solutions that you can offer and acknowledge the value of learning through real experiences.

To facilitate authentic learning, we utilise a diverse range of learning and teaching methods that may include lectures, seminars, workshops, tutorials and practical sessions. All of these are supported by our Virtual Learning Environment which is an integral but flexible aspect of the learning package that supports your needs. Typically, lead lectures introduce key topics, concepts and challenges, whilst seminars, tutorials, workshops and practical sessions focus on the application of key concepts with the aim of enhancing your student experience and engagement. We work hard to provide authentic, student-centred learning opportunities that deliver a high quality and flexible learning environment but focuses on enabling you to develop into a flexible, highly employable graduate of the future.

Learning and teaching methods will also emphasise and facilitate the development of your critical reasoning and encourage the integration of practice and theory. Throughout your studies, you will experience both tutor-led learning and self-directed methods of learning, increase independence and reflection and encourage you to develop a positive attitude toward lifelong learning. Along the way you’ll have the support of a Personal Academic Tutor who is there to support you pastorally and academically during your time at Cardiff Met.

We aim to help you to develop into a reflective professional and critical scholar.

In your sport degree at Cardiff Met, you will encounter a learning experience from induction to graduation that is coherent, challenging and develops your confidence, competence and identity within your programme of study.

You will learn through a blend of lectures, seminars, practical coaching sessions, workshops, tutorials, group tasks, placement learning and guided independent study. Teaching is designed to help you connect academic ideas with the realities of football coaching and the wider sport environment.

A key feature of the course is authentic learning. You will be encouraged to apply what you learn through practical coaching activity, case studies, reflective tasks, project work and placement experiences. This will support you to develop your coaching practice, professional judgement and confidence across a range of football and sport-related contexts.

Your learning will be supported by experienced academic staff with expertise in sport coaching, football coaching, coach education, player development, pedagogy, leadership and applied practice. You will also have access to personal tutoring, module support, assessment guidance and feedback opportunities throughout the programme.

You will use Cardiff Met’s digital learning environment to access learning materials, engage with online activities, submit assessments and receive feedback. Learning will also be supported through the facilities and resources available at Cyncoed Campus, including practical coaching spaces and wider sport-related learning environments.

Alongside scheduled teaching, you will be expected to complete independent study, including reading, session planning, reflective work, placement preparation, assessment tasks and project work. This independent learning is an important part of your development as a confident, self-directed coach and student.

The assessment strategies for each module vary to ensure that most appropriate method is implemented for your area of study. Modes of assessment are designed to both enhance but also challenge your learning experience whilst ensuring that you have fulfilled the learning outcomes linked to each module. Assessment also ensures that you have achieved the standard required to progress to the next stage or to qualify for an award. The modules are designed to support your learning experience by providing opportunities for you to engage in formative and summative assessments to test your knowledge, ability, skill, and critical understanding. The undergraduate modules are assessed using a diverse range of assessment methods. For example:

• Written coursework
• Group challenges
• Oral presentations
• Portfolios of work and evidence
• Seen and unseen exams
• Practical skills
• Viva voce examinations
• Professional discussions
• Industry placements and situational learning
• Other activities designed to assess, develop, and enhance academic and employability skills

You will be expected to complete a final project as part of the assessment of your honour’s degree. Final projects are major pieces of work that may be a research, innovation, consultancy or community project.

All undergraduate sport degrees are underpinned by the Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences employability framework. This framework has been developed as a holistic curricular and extra-curricular approach to embedding employability across the undergraduate portfolio, and ensures programmes recognise and develop opportunities to enhance your employability by blending the following elements:

• Disciplinary knowledge
• Work based learning
• Work related learning
• Career development planning
• Entrepreneurship and enterprise education
• Graduate skills and lifelong learning
• Developing professional identity

During your first year of study, you will get the opportunity to undertake professional development activities across a diverse range of industry relevant areas including sport coaching, exercise training, and health and safety. These opportunities will ensure that you have the appropriate qualifications and experience to progress with your studies and, where your programme requires it, apply for one of the many work placement opportunities on offer both on and off campus. We will also support you to seek opportunities to work or study abroad or engage in a year in industry.

This degree is designed to support your development as a football coach, while also preparing you for a range of wider roles across football, sport, education and player development. Throughout the course, you will build practical coaching experience, professional confidence, communication skills, reflective practice and the ability to work effectively with players, teams, colleagues and other stakeholders.

Placement learning is embedded within the programme, giving you opportunities to apply your learning in football, sport or performance-related environments. These experiences will help you develop the professional behaviours, judgement and adaptability needed to work in real coaching and workplace settings.

The course also supports the development of wider graduate skills that are valued across the world of work. These include communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, organisation, critical thinking, project work, reflection and professional decision-making. You will also explore areas connected to the wider football industry, such as recruitment, player development, education, culture, leadership and working with people in complex environments.

Graduates may progress into roles such as football coach, academy coach, community coach, coach development support, player development roles, sport development roles, coaching in education, recruitment or talent identification support, or wider support roles within football and sport organisations. The course also provides a foundation for further study, including postgraduate study in sport coaching, sport performance, education, research or related areas.

Typical Offers

The following requirements are based on typical offers relevant to entering year 1 of the degree.

If you do not meet these entry requirements, we also offer two foundation year routes that would allow progression to Year 1 upon successful completion. Find out more about these two foundation routes in the ‘Foundation Year’ section (above) on this page.

• Tariff points: 104-112
• Contextual offer: See our contextual offers page.
• GCSE: Five GCSEs at Grade C / 4 or above to include English Language / Welsh First Language, Mathematics / Mathematics – Numeracy.
• English Language Requirement: Academic IELTS 6.0 overall with at least 5.5 in all elements, or equivalent.
• A level subjects: Three A levels to include grade BB. No specific subjects required. Welsh Advanced Skills Baccalaureate considered as a third subject.
• BTEC National / Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma: DMM
• T Level: Merit.
• Access to Higher Education Diploma: 15 Level 3 credits at Distinction and 30 Level 3 credits at Merit. No specific subjects required.
• International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma: Higher Level Grade 6. No specific subjects required.
• Irish Leaving Certificate: 3 x H2. No specific subjects required. Higher level subjects only considered, with a minimum grade H4.
• Scottish Advanced Highers: Grade C. No specific subjects required. Scottish Highers are also considered, either on their own or in combination with Advanced Highers.

Combinations of the above qualifications are accepted if they meet our minimum requirements. If your qualifications aren’t listed, please contact Admissions or refer to the UCAS Course Search.

Further information on Overseas qualifications can be found here.

If you are a mature applicant, have relevant experience or RPL that you would like us to consider, please contact Admissions.

How to Apply

Further information on how to apply can be found here.

For general enquiries, please contact the Admissions Team on 029 2041 6010 or email askadmissions@cardiffmet.ac.uk.

For course specific enquiries, please contact the Programme Support Team:

• Email: CSSHSLTSE@cardiffmet.ac.uk