How to hire a football coach: Work Permit Service

MRKT Insights have helped clubs navigate the work permit process for senior staff, including winning appeals.

The head coach, or manager, is one of the most important recruitment decisions to get right for your football club.

There are so many angles to consider. How are they from a tactical perspective? What are their man management skills like? How do they deal with the media? What is their game model? Do they have the requisite experience? 

Our previous blog on hiring head coaches look into these facets in more detail, but, finding the ideal candidate for your role is one thing, the next is, are you actually able to hire them?

Why can’t we just hire who we want?

Well, perhaps, one day, you might be able to. But, for now, the UK Government says that your head coach has to pass a certain set of criteria before they will allow someone from outside of the UK shores to come and manage one of their league clubs.

The current legislation, released in June 2023, stipulates that a prospective Head Coach or Manager has to pass certain clauses in order for the FA to give the green light to the Home Office to issue what is known as a governing body exemption (GBE) which all sporting bodies have had to provide to allow non-UK nationals to work in this country since Brexit.

In a dim and distant past, a notion known as “freedom of movement” was introduced in the European Union, and, until January 2021, head coaches, and other non-playing staff could be appointed at an English club without many restrictions from within Europe. Of course, more complex work permits were required for non-EU applicants, even before 2020.

So, what criteria have to be passed?

I’m really glad that you asked, otherwise this blog would be quite pointless.

In a way, this is much simpler than it is for players. Players have to either be given an autopass or earn 15 points via various criteria to allow the FA to recommend to the Home Office that a work permit should be given.

For a head coach, the following is in the regulations, as published by the FA in May 2024:

The [prospective] Manager has: 

i. Managed a club in a [Band 1-5 league] for [24 months continuously or 36 months total in the last 5 years] ;

or 

ii. Managed an international team for the [24 months continuously or 36 months total in the last 5 years] which had an Aggregated FIFA World Ranking of 50 or above for the entire Prescribed Time. 

There are other aspects to the process as well, the applicant is to be in overall charge of the club’s first team, a GBE will not be granted unless the applicant has a UEFA Pro Licence or equivalent, and, interestingly, a GBE will only be granted if the club applying do not have a current head coach or manager in post.

There is no doubt that these criteria narrow down the field for prospective head coaches.

What is a Band 1-5 league?

All the leagues in the world have been put into bands by the FA. 

These bandings have been relatively well publicised when discussing player recruitment, but the meaning of them is slightly more simplified for head coaches.

For players, the number of points earned by players are differentiated by banding, with Band 1 being the highest band and Band 5 the lowest.

For head coaches, the regulations state that as long as the coach has been in charge at any of the bandings for the prescribed time then that satisfies the criteria.

So, to answer the question directly, the leagues are:

Band 1

English Premier League

Italian Serie A

Spanish La Liga

French Ligue 1

German Bundesliga

Band 2

Portuguese Primeira Division

Dutch Eredivisie

Belgian First Division A (Jupiler Pro)

Turkish Süper Lig

Band 3

Scottish Premiership

Brazilian Serie A

Argentinian Premier División

Mexican Liga MX

Major League Soccer

Band 4

Czech First League

Croatian First Football League

Swiss Super League

Spanish La Liga 2

German Bundesliga 2

Ukrainian Premier League

Greek Superleague

Colombian Categoria Primera A

Austrian Football Bundesliga

Danish Superliga

Russian Premier League

French Ligue 2

Band 5

Serbian SuperLiga

Polish Ekstraklasa

Slovenian PrvaLiga

Chilean Primera Division

Swedish Allsvenskan

Norwegian Eliteserien

Italian Serie B

Hungarian Namzeti Bajnoksag !

Japanese J1 League

South Korean K League 1

Australian A-League

The Australian A-League was added to Band 5 in May 2024, the remainder of the bandings have remained the same since 2023, but have seen regular minor changes since being brought into place in 2020, albeit Band 1 and Band 2 haven’t changed at all in that time.

So, in basic terms, if a manager or head coach has been working in one of these leagues for the requisite amount of time, then they could feasibly be on the shopping list for an English club as their next manager.

Who has been appointed having passed the criteria?

There have been a number of appointments using this set of criteria. Many of these appointments, such as Antonio Conte at Tottenham or Unai Emery at Aston Villa, would’ve taken no time at all in consideration from the point of view of work permits.

However, there have been other appointments that would’ve required a little more homework by the club and the authorities involved.

We have attempted to list the head coach and managerial appointments that have taken place since the regulations came into force, and how they break down as regards to the criteria. This information isn’t publicly available, so there is some guesswork as to how managers may have been successful in their exceptions panels.

Taking the Premier League first of all, the vast majority of managers appointed, 12 out of 15 (80%), have the requisite experience from the last five years of their career.

Of those who don’t, Ralf Rangnick is probably the most interesting case. There is a strong case to say that Rangnick is one of the more influential minds in modern football coaching, so there was a good case for him at Man Utd, but he hadn’t been a head coach for years before Utd appointed him.

Bruno Lage was close to the two year period with a well respected club in Benfica, which could have been mitigation in his case. Javi Gracia had recently had a Premier League job with Watford before Leeds hired him, which isn’t a factor written into regulations, but probably secured him a positive verdict in the panel.

As is often the case, things get a little messier when we drop down to the EFL.

Only nine of 20 (45%) pass the criteria automatically.

As there is no public information given for why work permits are given, there is no way of ascertaining what leads to a successful exceptions panel case. However, what is noticeable in the managers that have been successful in this list is the number of them that lived and worked in the UK previously. This may mean that they retained a permanent right to remain and did not therefore require a work permit.

Has anyone not passed?

This is information that is generally kept private between clubs and the FA.

We have seen above how many successful appointments seem to have come down to an exceptions panel. It must be assumed that not all applications and presentations to the panel are successful, but, in many cases, the club may decide not to take their case to panel, therefore many candidates may have been selected by clubs but an appointment is never attempted on the assumption that they will not be successful in getting the permit.

It was then widely reported that Dominik Thalhammer was to be appointed by a League One club and that a permit was denied.

Clubs, therefore, need to remain cautious in their respect to the FA criteria.

How can we be successful at an exceptions panel?

Good question. 

MRKT Insights have been retained to work on appeal panels and currently have a 100% success rate in getting managers and assistant managers permits. We provide evidence tailored to the rules, using factual information.

However there are no guarantees of success when facing the exceptions panel. As we have seen above, there have been a number of different circumstances that have had success, and some, which may appear to have similarly strong cases, have not been successful.

All we can do is apply the guidance in the regulations. The May 2024 regulations from the FA state:

The Exceptions Panel shall only recommend to The FA that a GBE be granted if it is satisfied that the Manager is of the highest calibre and is able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England.

And the criteria that they take into account is as follows:

a) where the Manager was not previously a first team manager or head coach or an assistant first team manager or head coach, the position held by the Manager; 

b) the league or leagues in which the Manager has Managed during the Reference Period; 

c) the participation of the club(s) Managed by the Manager during the Reference Period in competitive continental or world competition during the Manager’s tenure; 

d) the Aggregated FIFA World Ranking of any international team or teams that the Manager has Managed during the Reference Period; 

e) the participation of the international team(s) Managed by the Manager/Assistant Manager in competitive continental and world competition during the Manager’s tenure; and 

f) the reasons why the automatic criteria (as set out at paragraph16) have not been met.

What difference have the criteria made to head coach appointments in the four top divisions since Brexit?

There has never been an official press release from the FA as regards the post-Brexit rules for non-playing staff, so the official motives are not clear, but some motive can be inferred from the regulations themselves.

Potentially the most instructive line on this comes from the section in the exceptions panel where it is stated that managers should be “of the highest calibre and able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in England”.

This statement perhaps goes some way to explaining why a League One or League Two club might find it difficult to hire a head coach who doesn’t meet the automatic criteria.

The hiring statistics for the three seasons pre and post Brexit regulations make for interesting reading.

The analysis shows that there has generally been little difference in the rates of domestic hires in the top four divisions. There have been slightly more non-British appointments in the Premier League post-Brexit but the pure numbers don’t show much difference to the three seasons preceding the legislation. Less than half of the PL appointments are British nationals.

However, when one assesses the actual appointments, there is something that stands out.

It would be fair to say that none of the British appointments were to clubs that were stationed in the top half of the division. Indeed, most of the appointments of British head coaches or managers were to clubs that were embroiled in a relegation battle.

In the EFL, the ratio of non-British appointments has decreased slightly across the board, but most noticeably in the Championship.

Are there any good head coaches available for English clubs now?

Yes, undoubtedly.

At MRKT Insights, we are able to make use of our manager profiling tool and data based assessment of their work across the globe to identify the right candidates for specific circumstances. Managers cannot simply be categorised as “good” or “bad”, it helps massively to assess their work within context and with a particular job and/or desired playing style in mind.

However, with all that in mind, there are a couple of potential candidates that would pass the criteria and would be interesting appointments for English clubs.

With 34 leagues to choose from one might think that the market is fairly broad. However, in actual fact, it is still difficult to find multiple head coaches that are available for the style that are affordable and that pass the criteria required.

Indeed, many of the leagues don’t have any current managers who pass the 24 month continuous employment criteria. Some countries and leagues have a very quick turnover of head coaches that do not help the criteria be passed.

For some names that are more off the beaten track or under the radar, we are currently available for consultation on this matter. Using our data analysis, MRKT Insights are able to provide long-lists, help to narrow down candidates, and even be there through the interview and deliberation process to ensure the best possible candidate is appointed.

Who is coming through that we should be aware of?

MRKT Insights are constantly aware of the emergence of talented coaches and directors of football across the globe with our manager search tool, global network of expertise, and recruitment experts.

As a result, there are many coaches that are on close watch for future potential appointments in the UK, and across the globe.

With respect to the GBE criteria there are a number of head coaches that have not yet hit the 24 months consecutive work or 36 months total in the last five years, but are relatively close and worth monitoring due to their performance.

Of course on pitch performance is not the only important criterion, we regularly meet with (online and in person) the best emerging coaches.

Are there any other roles that require a GBE?

All individuals who do not hold a British passport or pre-existing work permit will require a GBE to get a work permit to work in football in this country.

There is official guidance from the FA as regards positions in clubs such as assistant managers, sporting director/director of football, performance managers, and youth football staff.

However, all other roles, such as coaches, fitness coaches, club doctors etc. are without FA guidance, yet still require a work permit. There are options from the Home Office that cover skilled workers, but we would advise that guidance is sought from immigration experts in these cases.