How To Write an Engaging Football Coach CV in 8 Steps

The curriculum vitae is a formal document that describes your knowledge and experience in great detail. No matter what kind of football team you coach, crafting a well-organised and structured CV is an essential step in helping you appeal to a variety of recruiters. Learning how to write an engaging CV can help you achieve your professionals goals and land a football coaching interview. In this article, we discuss what a football coach CV is, review why it's important to use a CV and learn how to write one in eight steps, including a template and example for reference.

Related: How To Write a CV Employers Will Notice

What is a football coach CV?

A football coach CV is a form of written documentation that describes your best traits and shows why you are qualified for a position as a football coach. It should include all of your most relevant experiences, skills, achievements and certifications. An important aspect of maintaining a CV is regularly updating and editing it when you're able to meet the requests specific to a company or job role. For this job role, it's especially important that you highlight your skills in teaching and coaching.

Related: 6 Universal Rules for Writing Your CV

Why it is important to use a CV?

Using a football coach CV is important because it's a method that helps to boost your chances of a hiring manager contacting you for an interview. If an employer or company requests a CV from you, it's often because it helps them to identify your accomplishments and expertise as a football coach. They use this document to envision how you might fit in the role. The CV can also make you more appealing as a candidate and gives the recruiter additional insight into your professional life.

A well-written CV is important for other reasons as well, such as:

• It highlights your competencies: By using more detail into the design of your CV, you're able to better illustrate your talents, capabilities and expert knowledge.

• It's reusable and easy to update: You can reuse your CV and update it with general ease in order to align the contents of the CV with the requirements and preferences of different job descriptions and open football coaching positions.

• It increases your chances of getting more interviews: An effective CV has a better chance of impressing the reviewer, which can often lead to them offering more interviews to you.

• It shows the diversity of your skillset: A CV for a football coach helps to demonstrate the versatility of your skills as a sports coach, showing that you can work well with a diverse group of players and football-related professionals.

Related: How To Create an Effective CV Layout

How to write a CV for a football coach

Follow these eight simple steps to help you write a CV for a football coach:

1. Add in your personal information

In the personal information section, include your basic information, such as:

• Name: At the top left side of your CV, include your first and last name. You're also able to add in your preferred name, if applicable. If you have any professional titles, you can include those as well.

• Phone number: Add your phone number in the top left corner and ensure it is legible and easy to recognise in case the resume reviewer wants to call you.

• Email address: Input your email address beneath your phone number. Use an email that you frequently check so you don't miss any important emails.

• Link to your online professional profile: If you have an online profile on a professional career platform, include it using a clean link.

2. Include your professional summary

Use the professional summary section to make a brief summarisation about yourself as a football coach and leader. Mention that you have coaching experience and if you have any notable accomplishments or other qualities that can make you a more appealing candidate, include those as well. To improve the readability of this section, keep it anywhere between three to five sentences at most.

Related: What To Include in Your CV

3. Add in any hard or soft skills you possess

Review the association's job description to identify keywords that highlight the hard and soft skills they require from their candidates. Hard skills are competencies you learn from school, work or training. Soft skills describe personality traits that you naturally possess. For a football coach, include skills like:

• Football fundamentals

• Leadership

• Strategic planning

• Friendly

• Athletic

4. Include your work history

Make certain that you include any work experience that applies to the football coaching job. Your work history should describe your companies by name and provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of your previous responsibilities and duties with your old employers. Add in the start and end dates as well since this allows employers to gauge longevity potential.

5. Add in your educational degrees

If you have obtained any academic or vocational education degrees, you can include them in this section. Just try to make certain that they're relevant to working as a football coach. The necessity for an educational degree can depend on the level of football coaching you wish to do.

6. Include any relevant certifications you earned

Any certifications you have earned go in this section, which may also include those that you obtained from an institution, online certification course or university. Add each certification by name and include the date when you earned it. You can also try streamlining your CV to include certifications that are only relevant to being a football coach.

Related: 6 steps for writing an engaging football coach cover letter

7. Include any applicable accomplishments

You have achieved any important accomplishments related to football coaching, then include those details in this section. This could involve any type of accomplishment like being recognised for excellence or leading your team in a national competition. Describe each of those accomplishments so the recruiter can gain a greater understanding of what they are.

8. Proofread your CV for grammar, spelling, tone and clarity

Once you have finished crafting your resume, make certain to proofread it thoroughly. Check the CV for proper design, colour, style and alignment. Keep it simple and easy to scan. Ensure your information is accurate, apply 10 to 12-point font, and use 1.5 inch margins.

Related: How Long Should a CV Be?

Football coach CV template

Use this template to help you craft your CV and make certain to edit it to fit your personal needs:

[Full name]
[Phone number]
[Email address]
[Link to online professional profile]

Professional summary
[Include three to five sentences in this section to illustrate your relevant job experience, notable skills and other capabilities that make you a perfect candidate for the role. Also describe how you're going to implement those qualities within the position.]

Skills

• [Soft or hard skill 1]

• [Soft or hard skill 2]

• [Soft or hard skill 3]

• [Soft or hard skill 4]

• [Soft or hard skill 5]

• [Soft or hard skill 6]

• [Soft or hard skill 7]

Work experience
[Job title]
[Company name]
[City and state]
[Month and year since you worked in this position]

• [Duties, achievements and responsibilities completed in this position 1]

• [Duties, achievements and responsibilities completed in this position 2]

• [Duties, achievements and responsibilities completed in this position 3]

Education
[Title of college or institution you attended,] [City and state]
[Name of the degree you achieved,] [Date you attended or completed the degree. Start date to 'present' if you're still attending.]
[Name of minor if applicable]

Certifications

• [Certification 1, date obtained]

• [Certification 2, date obtained]

• [Certification 3, date obtained]

Awards and accomplishments

• [Name of reward, date you earned the reward]

[Description of the accomplishment or award you received]

Related: CV Template for a Successful Application (With Example)

Football coach CV example

The following is an example of a CV for a football coach using the template above:

Julena Manigold
+447568 123992
Julena.Manigold@email.com
Julena-Manigold@professionalprofile.com

Professional summary
Football coach with four years of experience developing and leading recreational youth and secondary school football teams. Utilises training in education and sports medicine to effectively and safely coach student athletes. Skilled at recruiting athletes and building trust and commitment in teams.

Skills

• Physical and endurance training

• Facilities and equipment maintenance

• Recruitment

• League regulation knowledge

• Team-building

• Effective coaching methods

• Sports injuries training

Work experience
Head Football Coach | Queen Selah Grammar School |Chesham, Buckinghamshire
October 2019—Present

• Conducts trials to create a strong team that competes nationally

• Leads training sessions and strengthens players' abilities

• Instructs safe and effective workouts using weights and other equipment

• Creates a positive environment through team-building exercises

Assistant Coach | Pinner Community Center |Pinner, London
July 2017—August 2019

• Instructed youths aged 12-18 in recreational league football games

• Assisted the head coach with decision making and scheduling

• Expanded the existing league and created the first mixed league

• Taught athletes about proper injury prevention methods

Education
University of Loughborough | Loughborough, Leicestershire
Bachelor of Science in Sports Medicine, 2:1, 2016

Certifications

• FA Level 1 Award in Coaching Football, 2017

• Emergency First Aid certification, 2017

Awards and accomplishments

• Football Coach of the Year, 2018

Awarded by Pinner Community Sports Association for outstanding leadership and team performance results that led to 2 regional championship wins.

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