Andoni Zubizarreta

As a former football player, I know first-hand the challenge of reflecting on the future, looking ahead to the days when my time on the pitch would be over. For any player, this reflection should lead to action, training, and learning skills that will enable them to continue their careers in the world of football or beyond their usual workspaces.

During a time of growth within football, the needs within sports management are multiplying. The PFA Business School gives you the tools to enhance your footballing experience and advance your career to the next level. With our programme, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the demands of the industry from all perspectives, enabling you to develop your career within the sport.

Football management requires professionals with a comprehensive global understanding of all the elements related to decision-making in the sporting arena and within the structure of a football club. Additionally, they should be aware of the new areas of opportunity that may emerge in a constantly evolving world, which is changing rapidly and often transformatively.

As someone who has experienced the challenges of sports management in my own career, I feel privileged to share my knowledge and enrich your learning process. My goal is to equip you with the practical skills you need to succeed so that you can learn from experience and apply your knowledge to real-world situations. Together, we can apply what we learn ‘in training’ to the real world ‘on the pitch’, just as we have always done in our sporting careers.

I look forward to seeing you thrive in this exciting environment, taking on challenges that requires global managers and professionals who are trained and equipped to elevate their projects to the highest levels of efficiency and sporting effectiveness.

Andoni Zubizarreta, Co-Director of the Programme

Former player and former Sporting Director at Olympique de Marseille, FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao FC

Les Reed

Welcome to this unique and incredible opportunity presented by the PFA and Portsmouth University. A journey of discovery that will help you find your way, post playing into a world that will use your playing experience and ‘the feel for the dressing room’ in a new way and a new career.

I have been lucky to have a privileged career in the football industry. As a player I played at the lower levels of the game and that is also where I started as a coach, those experiences gave me the platform to learn and the desire to reach the top levels by improving and developing step by step.

As a coach I have coached at the top levels of World Football and have now used that experience to develop a second career in executive and leadership roles in elite football.

Alongside playing and early years of coaching I was able to study for a degree and various other diplomas and qualifications both in sport and football but also in leadership and management.

I have probably done every job there is in professional football and now run my own business in Elite Football Consultancy. I didn’t plan this; it just happened as one door closed another opened. I have been very lucky.

Now through the PFA Business School, it doesn’t have to be like that. Second career planning for today’s modern player needs to sit comfortably within the demands of the game, it needs to fit with a player’s commitments and not be a distraction. It also needs to be a positive learning experience, fun, enjoyable and appropriate.

The PFA Business School, Postgraduate Diploma in Global Football Sport Directorship makes this achievable and through our partnership with the University of Portsmouth it is a credible and accredited qualification.

On this course we will use your experiences and the wealth of experience of the teaching faculty to learn through real events, real cases and through the successes and failures experts. This course is designed to develop the real leaders of football’s future.

Les Reed, Co-Director of the Programme

Vice-Chair of the UEFA Development & Technical Assistance committee and Former Vice-Chair of Southampton FC