The German Football Association (DFB) does not allow coaches in its high-performance leagues that it has not trained itself. The association has a virtual training monopoly. In Spain it has been different for a few years. Thanks to a brave lawyer.
Mario Reig is sitting in his Meppen coaching office. A number of football shirts hang on the walls around him, and various trophies on shelves bear witness to the successes achieved. The native Spaniard, who has been commuting between Spain and Germany for many years, is a passionate football coach. He follows the discussion about the German coach education very closely.
“It’s unfair how things are organized in Germany,” he says. “The DFB only accepts coaches in its area that it has trained itself. That is in fact a monopoly,” says Reig, who criticizes: “Without competition, the DFB can set any high costs for its training – those interested have no choice but to to accept this.”
Lawyer sued against training monopoly
It’s different in Spain, Reig explains: “The Spanish association once had a similar monopoly there. Until Miguel Angel Galan came. A Spanish lawyer and football coach who sued against this monopoly. He was right. Since then, the football Coach education in Spain is a free market. In my opinion, the quality has improved as a result. And, by the way, much cheaper.”
It’s worth taking a look at that Miguel Angel Galan. A lawyer with a love for football, especially for being a coach. He was already on the field as a coach at the age of 15, and at 19 he had a license to train in the highest youth leagues.
Miguel Angel Galan – the thorn in the flesh of the Spanish Football Federation
In seniors he coached up to the 3rd league. On the side, Galan made a name for himself as a tough critic of the Spanish Football Federation. He says: “I’m a trade unionist. I don’t see anything negative in standing up for the rights and interests of football coaches.”
Galan formed a sort of union of football coaches to defend their interests. Among other things, the football association protested against “license gifts” to ex-national players. Once upon a time, Johan Cruyff and Zinedine Zidane and most recently Fernando Torres were given coaching licenses without the appropriate training.
Protest against “license gifts”
Galan asks: “The demands of a coaching job are very complex and require a lot of training. Especially when you work with young people, you can’t do without basic pedagogical training. And why shouldn’t ex-national players need these skills?”
The training courses offered by the football association, which are expensive and, according to the trade unions, not of sufficient quality, have also been a thorn in the side of the coaches for a long time.
Royal Decree removes football association monopoly
In 2011, Galan sued the Madrid Football Association, which only accepted specially trained coaches in its association area. Galan was right and a year later extended the lawsuit to the entire Spanish territory. He was successful. But only after six years.
“Cheaper and better” – Mario Reig and the Spanish coach education
How long did it take to reach a verdict? Or rather, up to a royal decree. In 2018, it said that Spanish coaching education could no longer be the sole responsibility of the football association, but would also be under the control of the national ministry of education.
Since then there have been several ways in Spain to train as a football coach. “It was the starting signal for better conditions,” says Mario Reig. The coach education market has been opened. In competition with the football association, private coaching academies emerged, whose staff, concepts and training paths have since been constantly checked and licensed by the ministry.
Private coaching academies as an alternative to association training
As in Germany, the Spanish training is organized in stages. With level one you can train in the amateur and lower youth level, level two allows the coaching of men’s teams from higher amateur leagues, level three is required for coaching in the professional sector.
“The training has been much more well-founded since then, because sports scientists from independent universities are involved in developing the criteria,” explains Reig. It was also momentous from a financial point of view. With the opening of the market, competition arose – prices fell. Today, for example, level three training only costs around 1,000 euros – it used to be around twice as much.
Training has become better and cheaper
And also in terms of time, the coach candidates have been accommodated. The courses at private academies are usually more condensed and can be completed in shorter but more intensive blocks. “This is very important, especially for working amateur coaches,” says Mario Reig.
The only drawback with a privately acquired coaching license from Spain: it is not officially accepted by UEFA and FIFA. They still only accept their own licenses and those of the national football associations. Is there another lawsuit from a certain Miguel Angel Galan missing?