Course Category: private

MQF Level 3 Award in Football Team Management

Course Description

The programme, carefully planned in collaboration with the Malta Football Association (MFA), ensures the highest quality and enhances participants’ understanding of football team management. It offers a journey that facilitates personal and professional development, ultimately boosting career prospects in this field.

Learning Outcomes

  • Explain the term ‘manager’ and the different types and roles of managers, the process of management, including the functions of management and differentiate between Management and Leadership and between different and effective leadership styles when leading a team during the game of football.
  • Evaluate various types of teams and groups, the characteristics of effective teams, the stages of group development into teams, to increase team effectiveness and contribute to build up a strong team.
  • Collaborate with other team members to supervise operations in the management of football organization and human capital for operational efficiency
  • Describe the meaning of each of the cultural value dimensions and  Analyze potential challenges to effective intercultural communication and identify ways to minimize the barriers to cross-cultural communication.
  • Evaluate the interactive processes of communication within diverse contexts (i.e., interpersonal, organisational, and socio-political) and distinguish between ethical and practical issues associated with communication.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the concepts and objectives of marketing and sponsorship within the football industry and apply knowledge and understanding of key theories and strategies required to plan an effective marketing campaign. and analyze features of sponsorship and marketing strategies from a socio-cultural perspective and develop an effect marketing team, demonstrating an ability to take responsibility for contributing to group tasks.
  • Analyze features of sponsorship and marketing strategies from a socio-cultural perspective and develop an effect marketing team, demonstrating an ability to take responsibility for contributing to group tasks.
  • Analyze legal frameworks and regulations, the issue of Integrity and appraise safeguarding issues, anti-doping, match-fixing and ethical issues, and commercial contracts – sponsorship and media rights contracts.
  • Collaborate and construct positive relationships with others to ensure a successful placement, will demonstrate the ability to positively influence other team members whilst on placement.Communicate effectively, clearly, and confidently with other team members and able to analyze and synthesize information from a variety of sources and media to enhance the placement experience.

Target Candidates

  • Individuals who want to start a career as Football Team Managers
  • Individuals who are already working as Football Team Managers and want to gain an ‘Award in Football Team Management’.
Course Code Duration Credit Value Next Intake FT/PT
TBA 9 weeks 10 ECTS TBA PT
Contact Hours Practical Hours Self-Study Hours Assessment Hours Total Learning Hours
50 30 152 18 250

Assessment

In order to successfully complete the course a minimum of a pass must be obtained in the assessment of each Module. 

Awarding Body

Learning Works

Lecturers

Lecturers will be shortly announced.

Course Structure

Module 1: Leading People in Football (2 ECTS)

This module will introduce participants to the key leadership and management theories and principles relevant to the global football industry. It will focus on the core concepts, functions and principles of management and how the various theoretical concepts are inter-related and how knowledge of such areas will help make participants become an effective team manager.  Participants will be also introduced to international aspects of football team management. It will also introduce participants to teamwork and the importance of teamwork as the building block of any organization. It will help them to analyse that building, leading, and working in a team is a complex, ongoing process rather than an event. Participants will understand that a group of people does not necessarily make them a team and that a team is a special type of group.

Module 2: Operations Management (1 ECTS)

The aim of this module is to introduce participants to the link theory to practice and demonstrate an understanding of the role and scope of operations management in a football setting. It will focus on the effective and efficient management of human capital and physical resources. It will introduce participants how to deal with operational issues such as, accidents and emergencies, risk management and ensure compliance with statutory requirements and organisational policies and procedures.

Module 3: Cultural Intelligence (1 ECTS)

In a diverse football world, being mindful of other people and their cultures is key to successful interactions. In this module, participants will discover the impact of culture on one’s personal identity and that there are cultural universals that make up every culture. Participants will have the opportunity to analyse the common differences between cultures and how communication can be enhanced across the different cultures. It will help participants to engage and communicate better with others by understanding some basic differences in culture.

Module 4: Effective Communication and Marketing in Football
(2 ECTS)

The importance of media and communication in the field of football has increased immensely, and the innovation in media technology requires football institutions and governing bodies to adopt new communication planning methods. During this module participants will be introduced to an overview of theories and principles of football and communication. It will focus on the nature of traditional and digital media and its implication for football policy and management. Because football is a useful vehicle for social, political, and marketing communication, the relations between the sender, the message, the medium, and the audience will be critically examined. Communication management and strategy are also discussed as the production, organisation and consumption of football involves a wide range of communicative processes. Attention is paid to ethics and regulations of communication. This module will also  introduce participants to key theories and concepts of football marketing and sponsorship, including the marketing mix, sport communications and understanding sport consumers.

Participants will be enabled to critically analyse marketing strategies by exploring a football’s relationship to its society, through a sociocultural lens. They will explore the role of sponsorship, branding and activation strategies within a range of sporting contexts.

It will also introduce participants to the principles and processes of effective planning of a sports marketing plan.

Module 5: The Football Industry (2 ECTS)

Football is a multi-faceted, dynamic industry of great social, economic, and political significance that comprises everything from local, volunteer-run football clubs to international organisations, brands, and leagues. In this respect, football organisations have had to adopt a more professional approach in the way they are managed and the way they organise their daily business. The issues connected with the football industry are similarly wide-ranging and management in the sector has become increasingly professionalised as the industry has grown and funding streams have diversified.

This module introduces participants to the structure and function of the world of football.  It examines the role of FIFA, UEFA and the MFA in the development and organisation of the game of football. In doing so, this module will of course provide an overview of the history of football with a working knowledge of history of the industry, and a foundation with which to critically understand and historicise concepts within it. It will also delve into the abundance of legal regulations and challenges, from doping to breaches of contracts. This module will introduce participants to understand and conform to these regulations. It is designed to give non-lawyers an educational experience focused on practical application rather than theory.

After completing 5 compulsory modules, students will need to choose whether to do their placements locally (Module 6) or internationally (Module 7).


Module 6: Work-based Learning Placement (Locally) (2 ECTS)

During the work-based learning placement, participants will build on the experience gained during the seminars/lectures and take a leadership role that reflects the competences and skills gained during the whole course. This placement will focus on sport administration and event management; physical activity will take place in a football club/association.

Module 7: Work-based Learning Placement (Internationally)
(2 ECTS)

During the work-based learning placement, participants will build on the experience gained during the seminars/lectures and take a leadership role that reflects the competences and skills gained during the whole course. This placement will focus on sport administration and event management; physical activity will take place in a football club/association Internationally.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements for this course are as follows:

  • Ages 18 +
  • Be able to communicate in the English Language (* Participants need to possess English language capability at IELTS level 6.0 or equivalent).
  • For participants choosing Module 7, learners are required to already be performing duties as football team managers with a football club but do not have the qualification.

EQF Level 5 Diploma in Sport Management

Course Description

The aims of this Diploma programme are to prepare students for a career in sports administration and management by developing and enabling them to apply their business knowledge, skills and attributes to practical management activities and to enhance their self-awareness, personal development and general transferable skills. Students will be provide further educational and experiential learning opportunities necessary in their career preparation to becoming future sport administrators/managers.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand current theoretical debates about the nature of sport management in an organisational context.
  • Analyse business & managerial problems using a range of criteria and techniques, leading to recommendations on options, implementation and choice of actions by sport administrators.
  • Recognise the significance to sport entities of the changing nature of the technological, international and related environments.
  • Assess the implications for management of emerging influences, innovation and change in order to make an effective contribution to the management of sport organisations.
  • Create, evaluate and assess a range of options together with the capacity to apply ideas and knowledge to a range of situations within a sporting context.
  • Recognise how to manage people (participants, parents, coaches, officials and others) efficiently.
  • Examine the requirements needed to organise an international sport event.
  • Recognise the responsibilities sport administrators and managers face.
  • Compare different leadership styles.
  • Analyse the skills, characteristics and behaviours of successful entrepreneurs.
  • In sport and active leisure.
  • Examine opportunities for entrepreneurial activity in sport and active leisure.
  • Explain how a sports manager can be more effective.

Target Candidates

Graduates of this Diploma can find employment in one of these established sport professions in:

National Teams / Club managers

Football Club administrators

Sport marketing – product and brand management

Volunteer management

HR

Sponsorship strategy

Communications – sport journalist/ broadcaster

Course Code Duration Credit Value Next Intake FT/PT
LW/S/003 14 months 60 ECTS October 2023 PT
Contact Hours Practical Hours
300 120

Assessment

In order to successfully complete the course a minimum of a pass must be obtained in the assessment of each Module. 

Awarding Body

Learning Works

Lecturers

Lecturers will be shortly announced.

Course Structure

Module 1 (LW/S/004): Introduction to Sport Management (10 ECTS)

With the advent of professional sports, sport organisations have had to increasingly adopt a more professional approach in the way that they are managed and the way they organise their daily business. This brought about a major shift in the running of local sport as administrators had to adopt a ‘business’ model that fit their exigencies. For example, a more business-like approach takes into account the sources of funding whether it is from public monies, private investments or both; the business context in which it operates whether it is a small or large market economy; an increasing array of stakeholder interests; and knowledge and understanding of target markets and other elements.

Module 2 (LW/S/005): Strategic Management (Sport Management) (10 ECTS)

It is well documented in the literature that having a strategy increases an organisation’s chances of success on and off the field, despite having limited resources. This is because the management can make more effective use of time and resources by allocating them rationally. Having a formulated plan that both paid and voluntary staff have contributed to, helps them to be motivated and focused on the objectives that sport organisations would like to reach. This in turn will lead to better coordination and streamlining of activities which will make them more dynamic and financially self-sufficient.

Module 3 (LW/S/006): HR and Volunteer Management in Sport (10 ECTS)

Human Resources and volunteers are an indispensable resource for some sport organisations, especially ones which do not have the resources to hire paid staff to help them manage and coordinate their activities. Because of the scope and nature of certain sport organisations, volunteers often assume a number of roles of varying importance, and although they are not compensated for their efforts, it is usually expected that a substantial investment in training and retaining them will be made.

Module 4 (LW/S/007): Sport Marketing and Sponsorship (10 ECTS)

Marketing is at the heart of everything that happens in sport; whether it is the format of a competition, what consumers want from that specific sport, how media rights are sold to television companies or what forms of merchandise are created, good marketing underpins all of the decisions that are made. The essence of marketing in a sport organisation is therefore to match and reconcile the demands of the marketplace with the resources and competence that the organisation holds.

Marketing is the process of planning and developing products and services to satisfy organisational goals. Sport organisations primarily offer images, values, ideas and services rather than products, which makes the marketing of sport quite unique as they need to achieve both commercial and social objectives. Therefore, this study unit will consider the products and services that sport organisations have to offer within a specific context and highlights a number of regulations that they have to abide to. Secondly, it will assess stakeholder expectations in relation to the services provided by the sport organisation and how to enhance these. Methods and tools for improving communication campaigns targeting specific stakeholders will also be presented.

Sponsorship will be introduced as a marketing strategy that pursues commercial objectives, exploiting the direct association between the commercial entity’s brand or product with those of the sport organisation’s. Finally, the strategic marketing process will provide information on how to get into an attractive position in the marketplace. 

Module 5 (LW/S/008): Communications and the Media (10 ECTS)

This study unit approaches the communications field by initially focusing on the critical role  that internal communication can play within a sport organisation. It emphasises that the success of external communication is often dependent on first getting your internal communications environment in good order. The next section then builds on this by examining the area of external communication and developing good communications strategy in practice.

One of the central components within the communications mix is of course the media. Thus, the second half of this study unit looks at the practical aspects of media operations and the growing role social media can play in a sport organisation’s strategic thinking. The media industry has changed; increasingly we live in a 24/7 ‘always on’ media news culture; the speed at which information flows has never been greater, media are more mobile, there is more user generated content (UGC) and communication is potentially global in terms of digital and web based communication.

Sport managers need to recognise that this mediated age, offers both challenges and opportunities to their respective organisation.

Module 6 (LW/S/009): Event Management (10 ECTS)

Sporting events are much more than just competitions between teams and players, they can forge an identity and create solidarity, bringing people together, giving them a sense of belonging and contributing to the development of the host region. They have a short and long-term impact. Years of preparation are required to produce a few days of sporting celebration, but these few days can continue to have an impact over more than a generation! 

Sport events in particular have special characteristics which make their management quite peculiar. These characteristics are underlined in this study-unit as it is essential that sporting events are well-organised by the sporting body and well-attended by the stakeholders in order to optimise ticket sales, broadcasting rights and sponsorships, as well as strengthen its public image! Sport events require a large quantity of materials, amenities and facilities such as the sport zone where the actual event takes place. Event organisers should have full and complete authority within this space; however in order to mobilise this zone, organisers must pay attention to the contractual obligations governing the loan or rental of premises. Ideally, sport event organisers should ensure that the environment is not negatively affected and that there is a legacy that is beneficial to the local community.

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements for this course are as follows:

  • Be in possession of Minimum EQF Level 4 certification or;
  • Have at least 5 years experience in a management position.
  • Have a good command of oral and written communication in English with a level of proficiency in English equivalent to at least IELTS Level 6.
  • The Maturity Clause will also apply for those over 23 years of age, but such prospective students will be required to go through an online interview.