Active collaboration with the Football Development Institute brings many profits. Here we have formulated the key privileges from the Specialist’s perspective.
“Football Identity of FDI”
We are ruthless opponents of stereotypes, trends, copying solutions. All Football Development Institute projects arise from the characteristic individual “Football Identity of FDI”, and this means that we apply an interpretation of football that is not seen anywhere else, as well as our own content concepts. In this way, educated people gain a completely different perspective of thinking and conceptual work.
Educational planes
Education with the FDI mark is based on six conceptual planes. First, we build football intellectual foundations, and impart detailed defined and proven knowledge – we call it “Practical Theory”. We carry out the conversion of knowledge into derived competences, prepare in a practical way for the relevant specialized role, and form professional autonomy. We also support the process of developing an individual “Football Identity” of Specialists.
Education System
The “Education System of FDI” consists of complex education and selective education. Complex education includes four main didactic areas. The first, and at the same time the key one, is the innovative content and certified specialized courses. All Graduates of the courses can profit from advisory support, while for Specialists with “FDI Prospect” status there is an opportunity to participate in Educational internships (European Clubs) and join long-term Mentoring programs as a basis for individual development. Complementing the idea of complex education – and at the same time the basis for selective education – are webinars, webinars “on demand”, conferences and online courses.
Specialized courses
Football Development Institute offers – depending on the Specialist role under discussion – one- or two-level courses. In sum, they take six months, one year or two years. During the specific period, stationary conventions are organized, including lectures, context exercises, project tasks and presentations. Stationary methodology is complemented by remote methodological measures. Thanks to the wide range of time, we have the opportunity to implement extensive educational programs.
Concept of specialized courses
The course concepts stem from proprietary “Football Identity of FDI”, as well as proprietary “Club Development Model of FDI”, and are tailored to our definition and our position profile of a specific specialized role. On this foundation, we create practical content programs based on the standards we promote. It is about the rank, character and main strategic objectives of the discussed Specialist role, positioning in the structure of the Club, areas of operation, content scope of operations, specific subjects, decisiveness and needed competences. The focus of FDI is always on the work at the Club, the original view of the role and the complex approach to the subject matter. This is a big stand-out compared to other courses in Europe on similar topics.
Program unification
FDI guards programmatic uniformity. All content presented must correspond to the distinctive “Football Identity of FDI”. Therefore, the vast majority of classes are taught by Team members of the Football Development Institute. In parallel, a well-thought-out process of selecting external experts is in place, as is a detailed system of collaboration. This is another difference from classic courses or conferences, where speakers are selected at random, while the organizer does not interfere with the information provided.
“Football Identity” of Specialist
In the work with the Student, and later the Graduate, we emphasize at every step the importance of developing an individual “Football Identity”. Only few people have it: most do not recognize this deficit in themselves, others are not able to carry out such a complicated process. However, without one’s own professional substantive identification, there is no autonomy, high quality, independence, development and controlled perspective. The help of the Institute in this context is invaluable.
Elite circle
Recruitment documentation, an entrance exam and an interview ensure that the title of Participant of each course must be earned. In this way, we take care of the appropriate characteristics of the course Participants, determining the level of internal discussions, as well as the assignments performed. Context exercises, project tasks, competency tests, the final paper, its defense and the final exam serve to maintain proper motivation, while supporting the effectiveness of the educational process.
Long-term education and career planning
Specialized courses guarantee a huge amount of unconventional knowledge. Advisory, educational internships as well as mentoring programs form the next tier of the Specialist’s development. On the third tier are webinars, conferences, as well as online courses, completely supporting the long-term educational process. In this way, a complex educational architecture is designed, making it possible to constantly expand substantive horizons, improve competences, practically prepare for the relevant specialized role, consult one’s own thoughts and actions, and further develop an individual “Football Identity”. Each Student is equipped with the tools that allow to think about working in a professional Club at the highest European level. At the same time FDI helps in career planning, creating an individual map and recommending selected Specialists directly to the Clubs cooperating with the Institute.
Certification
Graduates – after successfully accomplishing project tasks and competency tests, writing a final paper, defending it and passing the final exam – receive certificates of course completion. In our opinion, knowledge, competences, skills and experience are much more valuable than a document, but we realize that Participants and Employers value prestigious certificates.
Networking
FDI creates many opportunities for Specialists to expand their network of contacts in the world of professional football. Most of the educational units during the specialized courses are held stationary, so there is an occasion to make interesting professional acquaintances – both with Marcin Gabor, people working on behalf of the Institute, external Experts, as well as with other Students. Conferences become an excellent chance to increase the number of business cards, and important contacts can also be gained through educational internships. Football Development Institute allows intensive communication even in online educational events. Numerous as well as the right contacts have the potential to support the Specialist in showing his professional quality.
