Technical Director's Handbook

Football associations exist to deliver football on the pitch. Within each FIFA member association, it is the technical department that has the greatest influence over that core business and holds the keys to success. The FIFA Technical Director's Handbook is designed to help associations develop in the way that best suits them.

The nine chapters of the Technical Director's Handbook cover a broad range of subjects, from the structure of the technical department to delivering major projects and ideas for professional development. It is not intended as a prescriptive instruction manual; rather, it should be used as a framework of ideas and techniques that technical directors can adapt as required to meet the needs of their associations. The Handbook also provides useful context for FIFA's existing technical manuals, which cover every level of the beautiful game from the grassroots to elite men's and women's football.

Chapter 1: Role and responsibilities of the TD

This chapter defines the role of the TD and his/her profile in a nutshell. It also introduces the concept of a long-term development plan that is elaborated on in Chapter 6.

Chapter 2: The position of the TD within the member association

This chapter identifies the key aspects related to the TD’s hierarchical position within the football association, in particular: the position in the organisation chart, interaction with other departments and relations with elected members.

Chapter 3: Technical department set-up

This chapter explains the managerial functions of the TD vis-à-vis the technical department, as well as his/her human resources, financial management and logistics responsibilities.

Chapter 4: External contacts and relations

This chapter contains an analysis of the relations between the TD and stakeholders, such as coaches, clubs, regional associations/leagues, government authorities and other institutions. It also provides some basic information about the working relations with FIFA and its development department.

Chapter 5: Analysis of the football environment

This chapter focuses on the first step of the project cycle (analysis) by identifying the key elements to analyse the football environment within a given country and the factors that have to be taken into account.

Chapter 6: Strategy and planning

This chapter focuses on the strategic stages of the project cycle, particularly the definition of the long-term strategy (four years) and the yearly action plan.

Chapter 7: Implementation

This chapter analyses the implementation phase and contains a detailed list of all aspects of the TD’s work. Priority is given to education, coaching licences, youth national teams, academies and development competitions.

Chapter 8: Monitoring and evaluation

This chapter deals with the last step of the project cycle: assessment and monitoring. It analyses short-, mid- and long-term control mechanisms and explains the supervisory role of standing committees.

Chapter 9: How to grow professionally

This chapter focuses on the need for the TD to constantly develop his/her knowledge and skills through self-learning, peer-to-peer contacts and formal education.