How to get a job at a football club

If you’re a football fan, then working at a professional club is probably the dream job. You’ll be in an environment you love doing something you really enjoy and making a difference in a sport that you were brought up on, not to mention supporting your club directly through your day to day work. What’s not to like?

Of course, getting a job at a football club isn’t easy. It’s a highly competitive industry worth billions of pounds to the economy and as such, there are lots of people out there who want a piece of the pie.

How can you stand out from the crowd? Here are some tips for getting a job at a football club.

Explore all aspects of the industry

Football is about so much more than the 22 players out there on pitch. At elite level, there are nearly as many coaches and technical staff as there are players.

Sports science experts help treat and prevent injuries, nutritionists look after the dietary requirements of players to ensure that they are fuelled to perform at optimum levels, PR and communication experts look after clubs and individuals’ reputations and media duties – the list of roles available really is endless.

That’s why you should explore all aspects of the industry. You might discover opportunities that you didn’t know previously existed. By having a broader view of the wider way in which a football club works, you’ll be in a much better position when it comes to obtaining a job.

Find a way into football

One of the most effective ways of securing a job with a football club is by discovering a route into the industry. At professional level, not many clubs are just going to hire someone off the streets. They’ll look for those already working in the business and who can bring their expertise from the role they are already doing into their new club.

Take our We Make Footballers franchisees for example. Many of them are also employed by professional clubs in a number of roles including as talent scouts and coaches. Clubs know that they must be successful coaches in order to run a franchise and that they have access to some of the best players in the local area who they could therefore recommend for trials.

By finding ways such as these into the industry, you’ll be boosting your chances of being employed by a football club.

Experience other sports – not just football

Here’s a little bit of out-the-box thinking – don’t just limit yourself to football. Some of the best coaches in the world are those who have spent time looking at other sports, taking ideas from them and them incorporating them into their own.

Pep Guardiola took a year out between managing Barcelona and Bayern Munich to study the game – and other games – and hone his management skills. As a youth team coach at Manchester United and now the Football Association’s National Coach Developer, Paul McGuinness has helped to produce some of the best players in the world with his philosophy largely influenced by the 1v1 training that basketball players go through.

There is much that can be learned from the way in which other sports train their athletes on the pitch and how those sports operate off it. If you can demonstrate you’ve got fresh ideas from across the spectrum, you’ll be a very attractive proposition to football.

Jump at every opportunity

The more impressive your footballing CV, the more impressive you’ll be to a club. Being involved at elite level is a challenge in an industry that never stands still, which is why those have demonstrated a willingness to step out of their comfort zone will come across as the sort of people who can thrive within it.

The more challenges you face, the more experience you’ll gain and the more suited you’ll look to working in what can be a very demanding industry.