The Coaching Crisis Hiding in Australian Football

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Image Credit: Ministry of Sport

The low standard of Australian football has often been attributed to limited resources and the relative immaturity of the sport’s development system in the country. A 2023 study suggests that coach education in Australia is a key issue, as it often fails to adequately prepare coaches for the realities of the game, resulting in weaker practical coaching outcomes.

Coaches have attributed this matter to a number of factors; including the contents quality, structure and delivery. However, deeper systemic issues can also explain its inefficiency. Identifying and understanding these concerns is necessary to improve coach training in Australia.

 

Why does coach training matter?

Coaching is central to any sport, encompassing the transmission of knowledge and the development of athletes to perform at their highest level and achieve their goals. It contributes to shaping sporting identity, club culture and path-dependent behaviour within an organisation. Coaches must participate in training to ensure their efficiency in leading a team.

 

Coach training in the Australian context

In 2020, Football Australia (FA), the national governing body for the sport, introduced new principles aimed at raising the standard of coaching and coach development. These included modernising the delivery of coach education and reviewing both course content and the broader Australian coaching methodology.

Despite this renewal of objectives, the Australian coach education system remains underpinned by the National Football Curriculum (NFC) released in 2013.

The NFC aims to provide coaches with an understanding of the national ‘playing’ and ‘coaching’ philosophy, advocating for a i) player-centred approach to coaching; ii) game-based and constraints-led approach to practice design; and iii) an information-processing view of motor learning.

In Australia, coach education is broadly divided into two pathways, each tailored to different stages of the game:

The Community Coaching pathway targets coaches working with participation players aged 5 to 17. These courses are relatively short and focus on equipping coaches with practical skills in session design and delivery.

The Advanced Coaching pathway is aimed at those operating in the performance phase. These courses are more intensive, centred on Football Australia’s Coaching Expertise Model, which outlines the key competencies required of high-level coaches.

Does the National Football Curriculum have a content issue?

Despite the importance Football Australia (FA) places on football knowledge, coaches reported that courses do not adequately address this area and expressed some dissatisfaction with how it is delivered.

Coaches also highlighted an expectation of conformity to the National Football Curriculum (NFC), which limits the value and impact of formal coach education in developing both theoretical understanding and practical coaching approaches. As a result, coaches can struggle to translate knowledge from coursework into on-field practice, with a lack of alignment between theory and application contributing to this implementation gap.

It is only at the ‘A’ Licence level that coaches are actively encouraged to develop their own football philosophy and vision. In contrast, earlier stages of the curriculum remain largely focused on adopting FA’s established framework.

This sustained emphasis on technical and tactical elements can also restrict the development of broader pedagogical and interpersonal skills required for effective coaching. Given the inherent complexity of coaching, this further complicates the effective translation of formal coach education into practice.

In addition, the NFC is seen as overlooking key off-field responsibilities of coaches. Beyond tactical duties, coaches play a significant role in player development, particularly in relation to well-being and welfare. In modern high-performance sport, coaches are increasingly viewed not only as tacticians, but as holistic developers of athletes both on and off the pitch.

 

No possibility to ‘climb the ladder’

Coaches also complain about the inability to grow and “climb the ladder” in the sport. Indeed, the development of football in Australia highly relies on volunteers.

The majority of NPL youth coaches in Australia are in a casual position. Many of them have full-time jobs in completely different fields. Often juggling two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

“There is no realistic ladder where a young coach can start at grassroots level, improve, get noticed, and work their way into a full-time position in a professional youth academy. The reason is simple. The positions barely exist.”

Jan Schmidt, former Technical Director of the NPL

Coaches are often unable to attend coaching courses during the week, which limits their ability to stay up to date with modern coaching methods.

Limited time and resources therefore restrict coaches’ capacity to deliver high-quality performance and effective coaching practice.

“Most NPL youth coaches earn between $6,000 to $8,000 a year. That is not a career. That is a sacrifice”. Jan Schmidt, former technical director in the NPL

Systemic limitations on the growth and development opportunities available to football coaches in Australia can reduce their motivation and constrain their capacity to deliver effective results. These constraints, in turn, negatively affect coaching quality and ultimately impact the standard of football.

When coaches are unable to fully commit to the demands of the game, they are less able to provide optimal training environments for their players. This limits player development pathways and, consequently, restricts the overall standard of Australian football.

If Football Australia (FA) aims to develop world-class coach education environments, it must better support the behaviours, knowledge, and practices of coaches across the country. This requires a stronger emphasis on aligning coach education with the real needs of the coaching community.

These findings highlight the importance of ongoing engagement between FA and Australian coaches to collaboratively improve coach education programs. Strengthening coach development has the potential to significantly enhance the quality of football delivered to the next generation of Australian players.

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Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

“20 Years Ahead”: The System Quietly Reshaping Korean Football

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Image Credit: Goal.com / Getty Images

For all its consistency, Korean football has long carried an underlying tension.

On paper, it works. The national teams remain competitive, the player pool is technically sound, and the country continues to produce athletes capable of performing on the continental stage. But beneath that surface-level success, a more uncomfortable question has persisted about whether Korea has been simply maintaining its position while others evolve.

That question has driven the Korea Football Association (KFA) toward one of the most ambitious structural overhauls in modern football development: the Made in Korea (MIK) Project. Rather than focusing on short-term gains or isolated improvements, the initiative attempts to do something far more complex. It is rebuilding the foundations of how football is taught, understood and executed across the entire ecosystem.

Internally, the project has been described as having “brought Korean football 20 years ahead.” Whether that claim ultimately proves accurate remains to be seen, but what is already clear is the scale of the shift taking place.

From talent to system

The starting point was not talent, but structure. For years, concerns had been growing within Korean football circles about a lack of uniqueness in players, inconsistencies in long-term planning and an over-reliance on safe, risk-averse styles of play. The system, while producing disciplined and technically capable footballers, was not consistently producing players equipped to thrive in the most demanding environments. Environments such as Europe, where tempo, decision-making speed and adaptability define success.

Rather than attempting to patch these issues, the KFA chose to reimagine the system itself.

At the core of the MIK Project is the idea that high performance is not the result of individual excellence alone, but of an interconnected structure that allows that excellence to emerge consistently. Coaching, sports science, performance analysis, leadership and education are no longer treated as separate pillars, but as components of a single, integrated system designed to evolve continuously.

A new operating model

This philosophy is most clearly expressed through the project’s adoption of a cell-based operating model. In place of traditional hierarchies, the system is organised into small, cross-functional units, called “cells”. These cells are given autonomy over their work while remaining connected through shared frameworks and objectives. Each unit is responsible not only for delivery, but for learning, adapting and refining its approach on a constant cycle.

The intention is to bring decision-making closer to the pitch, allowing those working directly with players to respond faster and more effectively to the realities of the game. In an environment where marginal gains are often decisive, that speed of adaptation can be critical.

Closing the gap

Yet structure alone is not enough. The project is equally shaped by a clear-eyed assessment of where Korean football currently stands in relation to the world’s elite.

Comparative analysis has highlighted several consistent gaps: technical execution under pressure, the ability to operate at higher game speeds and effectiveness in decisive moments such as one-on-one situations. These are not deficiencies of talent, but of context. Korean players, while highly capable, have often developed within systems that prioritise control and precision over risk and spontaneity.

The consequence is a style that can become predictable under pressure.

Training for reality

To address this, the MIK Project has fundamentally shifted training methodology. Sessions are increasingly designed to replicate the intensity and unpredictability of real matches, placing players in situations where decisions must be made quickly, under pressure, and often in confined spaces. The focus is no longer on rehearsing ideal scenarios, but on preparing players for imperfect ones.

This approach reflects a broader philosophical shift that prioritises adaptability over perfection, and decision-making over repetition.

Evolving the Korean identity

Importantly, this evolution does not come at the expense of Korea’s existing strengths. Discipline, work ethic and technical proficiency remain central to the national identity. What the MIK Project seeks to do is build upon those foundations, combining them with the creativity, speed, and tactical awareness required at the highest level of the game.

It is, in many ways, an attempt to reconcile tradition with modernity.

A global ambition

The ambition underpinning the project is unmistakable. The KFA is not simply aiming to remain competitive within Asia, but to re-establish itself among the world’s leading football nations. That means producing players capable of not only reaching Europe, but succeeding there.

More than a project

What makes the MIK Project particularly compelling is that it does not present itself as a finished solution. Instead, it is designed as a system that evolves, adjusts and refines itself over time. In a sport where trends shift rapidly and competitive edges are constantly eroded, that capacity for continuous development may prove more valuable than any single innovation.

For other football nations, Korea’s approach offers an instructive case study. While many federations continue to debate philosophical direction, the KFA has committed to structural transformation, embedding its ideas not only in theory, but in practice.

Whether the project ultimately delivers on its boldest ambitions will depend on time, execution, and the unpredictable nature of the game itself. But one thing is already evident.

Korean football is no longer standing still.

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