Course for the Management of Youth Football Academies

Many academies and clubs rely on the individual drive of coaches or coordinators, lacking a clear institutional model to provide coherence, continuity, and meaning to the process. When people change, projects become diluted.

This course stems from that specific need. From years of experience working with clubs, academies, and leading figures in youth football, and from the conviction that the quality of youth development depends not only on talent, but also on the systems that support it.

That is why we designed a proposal that does not seek to copy external models or impose recipes, but to provide professional criteria so that each participant can build, adapt and improve their own training project, according to their context, their culture and their institutional reality.

This course is designed for those who work, or aspire to work, in youth football development and need to strengthen their strategic vision, leadership skills, and training model. It is for professionals seeking to improve the quality of their academies, streamline processes, professionalize teams, and offer training experiences that truly make a difference.

Directors, coordinators and managers of training academies: For those who lead grassroots projects and need a clear framework to plan, manage resources, define a game/training model and ensure the coherence of the entire structure.

Those responsible for methodology and youth development: For those who design training processes and want to incorporate evidence-based criteria, international models, and tools to organize stages, workloads, KPIs, and training progressions.

Coaches, technical staff members and performance professionals: For those seeking to broaden their perspective beyond the field, integrating management, leadership, applied pedagogy and data analysis to understand player development holistically.

Former players, physical trainers, sports psychologists and professionals linked to sports: For those who wish to move from the technical role to the management role, leading academies, training departments or independent projects with a more strategic and human vision.

Entrepreneurs and creators of football academies or schools: For those who are building or managing their own projects and need a solid model to differentiate themselves, professionalize their structure and offer high-quality processes.

At the end of the course you will have a set of practical tools and professional criteria that you can apply from day one:

Designing a comprehensive academy model: You will learn to build a solid educational identity, define a strategic plan, and establish clear criteria for decision-making in all areas.

Planning the player's long-term development: You will know how to design individual, group and collective plans; organize workloads; establish KPIs; evaluate learning curves and accompany the technical, tactical, physical and emotional evolution of each footballer.

Create coherent and measurable methodological systems: You will be able to order stages, structure progressions, justify each training session and apply modern pedagogy based on evidence and international models.

Leading technical teams and managing resources: You will gain tools for adaptive leadership, executive communication, staff management, internal organization, and budget sustainability.

Integrate sports science and modern performance: You will master key concepts of nutrition, injury prevention, performance psychology, video analysis, scouting, and the use of data to improve decision-making.

Analyze and improve your current (or future) structure: You will be able to evaluate processes, detect inconsistencies, propose improvements, and build a professional work system that raises the quality of your academy.

Apply what you've learned in your real-world context: Thanks to classes with international experts, discussions with expert teachers, and the final integrative project, you will complete the course with a concrete model, plan, or project applicable to your work environment.

Module I: Methodology and talent development

• Strategic plan for academia.
• Playing style and stages of footballer development.
• Design of individual, group and collective plans.
• Applied pedagogy and training control.
• KPIs, learning curves, and methodological progression.
• International models of success (Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Argentina).

Module II: Governance, leadership and management of academia

• Institutional strategy and decision-making.
• Executive communication and team culture.
• Adaptive leadership and human resource management.
• Budget planning and sustainability.

Module III: High-Performance Work System

• Staff education and leadership.
• Player nutrition and well-being.
• Individual and group training.
• Injury prevention and control.
• Performance psychology and servant leadership.
• Video analytics, Big Data and scouting.
• Talent development and management of training stages.

Supplementary content

• Economic aspects and budget management.
• Legal aspects in the management of academies.
• Institutional communication and press relations.
• Success stories with international guests.

The experience is designed so that each participant can apply what they learn in their professional context, regardless of whether they work in a club, a private academy, an educational institution, or are running their own project.

The course is delivered entirely online , combining synchronous classes and asynchronous materials, and lasts one semester . Classes are held on Tuesdays from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (Argentina time) and are recorded so you can review them whenever you need. The program includes 16 regular classes and 4 special sessions with national and international experts.

We offer a dynamic, professional, and supportive course designed to improve how you think about, lead, and manage an academy. It includes:

Live, dynamic, and practice-oriented classes

Applied materials and work boards

Special meetings with international figures

Interdisciplinary and integrative learning

Final work applied to your own project

La Universidad Austral has exclusive enrollment benefits regarding current values. These include: corporate agreementsSouthern Community, distance benefits, early registration, among others.

These are subject to availability . For more information, please consult with the responsible executive.