Football Development Institute
Education

Specialist course process

The following is a standard Specialist course process.

Detailed organizational information about a specific specialized course, as well as the program structure and admission requirements, can be found in the relevant educational event panel.

Specialized course

  • Initial consultation

    At first, questions arise. Which course should I choose? Is this course right for me? What are the chances of a successful application? Would I be able to balance participation with my professional work? Can I manage content-wise? And these are just some of the questions that come up when deciding whether to apply. Football Development Institute is glad to help solve puzzles and clear doubts, supporting in a professional and fully content-related manner.

  • Applying

    Submitting an application electronically – through the football-development-institute.net website – is the only accepted form of application by the Specialist for participation in the course. Before starting the application process, it is necessary to review the conditions of admission to a specific Specialist course and information on formal requirements (documentation, payment). The listed contents are carefully formulated in each course panel. Sending an application form does not imply approval for the course, but begins the verification procedure. As part of it, the Football Development Institute will decide whether to proceed with the application or reject it.

  • Recruitment exams

    Positive consideration of the application, and at the same time qualifying the Candidate for the next stage, opens the possibility of taking the recruitment exams. This is the final step before eventual participation in a specialized course. The exams consist of two parts:

    competency test

    interview

    Each group of Students consists maximum 22 persons.

  • Specialized course

    Successful completion of the recruitment process means admission to the Football Development Institute course. From this point on, you should plan your time well, as the specialized course lasts 6 or 12 months.

    Example: 12 months

    The course has a stationary character with a supplement in the form of remote work. Once a month, conventions are held, which last 2-3 days. Over the course of the year, we have planned 27 days of classroom sessions (each divided into two four-hour blocks), forming 54 learning blocks and adding up to 216 hours of work at our educational center. In addition, we have included 1-2 theme webinars each month, and work on project tasks, preparation for knowledge/competency tests, editing the final paper, as well as consulting sessions. For those who are interested, we have also organized a language course of English or German with an accent on a specific specialized role.

    Education, during the course organized by the FDI, is based on six methodological goals:

    knowledge sharing | “Practical Theory”

    • lectures
    • webinars
    • printed materials
    • video materials
    • context exercises
    • advisory
    • supervised project tasks

     

    consolidation of acquired knowledge

    • printed materials
    • video materials
    • context exercises
    • project tasks
    • presentations
    • advisory

     

    developing individual convictions and content structures

    • lectures
    • printed materials
    • video materials
    • context exercises
    • supervised project tasks
    • project tasks
    • advisory

     

    conversion of acquired knowledge into derived competences

    • lectures
    • webinars
    • printed materials
    • video materials
    • context exercises
    • supervised project tasks
    • project tasks
    • advisory

     

    implementation of knowledge and derived competences

    • context exercises
    • supervised project tasks
    • project tasks

     

    verification of knowledge and derivative competences

    • context exercises
    • supervised project tasks
    • project tasks
    • knowledge tests
    • competency tests
    • final paper
    • defending the final paper
    • final exam

     

    To successfully complete the course, in the form of receiving a certificate, you need to pass all the components in the subsection “verification of knowledge and derived competences”.

  • Educational internships

    After each course, the committee of the Football Development Institute selects the two best Graduates, who will be offered an internship at one of the European Clubs. Of course, the internship is precisely matched to the represented specialized role. FDI assigns the internship Participant tasks to be completed – upon return, there is an online presentation, during which the Graduate discusses the completed objectives.

    Being included in the mentioned group also means being awarded “FDI Prospect” status.