The UEFA A Licence course is designed for coaches who have obtained the UEFA B Part 2 Licence within the last 5 years (or have undertaken a refresher course) and wish to build upon this qualification. It is the highest practical coaching licence available and can lead to the UEFA Pro Licence or FA Academy Managers award. It is mandatory for all prospective candidates to attend a 1 day preparatory courses before starting the A Licence course itself and some pre planning is required as there are normally only a small number of these courses held each year.
The course itself is generally run over 13 days to provide a minimum of 120 hours contact time and is suitable for physically fit coaches active in 11 a side football. If covers a very wide variety of issues related to the development of senior players and teams and uses both practical and theoretical components to build on candidates' knowledge and experience. Components considered include counter attack, striker shadowing, wide area attack, defending as a team and overcoming offside.